May 9 -31, 2018

Opening reception for both exhibits on May 10 at 4PM
Linksvayer artist talk at 4:15PM

 

MERWIN GALLERY

Stephen Linksvayer
I gather the limbs of Osiris

 

Stephen Linksvayer’s exhibit entitled “I gather the wings of Osiris” is featured in the Merwin Gallery from May 9th - 31st. An opening reception and a gallery walk with the artist will be held on May 10th at 4:15PM.
Linksvayer is an artist currently living abroad in Shanghai, China. His work, although created on the canvas and hung on the wall, exists in a sculptural realm. Dissected and reassembled leather motorcycle jackets are sewn to unpainted cloth canvas.

The dimensionality of the jackets is furthered by the removal of the canvas’ center leaving the viewer to stare through the work of art at the wall. These pieces imply a great amount of formality as the viewer shifts between the black textured jackets and the stark nakedness of the canvas base. Linksvayer’s wall pieces are open ended and hard to define as he wants his viewer to question their own definitions of sculpture and painting and even art. 

Stephen Linksvayer was born in 1973 in Springfield, IL. He is the former co-owner of Heavy Brow Gallery in Downtown Bloomington, Il which showed a variety of both local and national artists. Linksvayer currently splits his time and artistic practice between the United States and China.

 

 

 

WAKELEY GALLERY

Blackstock Press
- from the IWU archives

In a recent relocation of the IWU art collection a number of handmade books by IWU students were rediscovered. The Wakeley Gallery in the School of Art will host an exhibit of the books from May 9 – May 31. The books were created by the Blackstock Press beginning in 1969 under the guidance of printmaking faculty Fred Brian. Each book was lovingly crafted in the tradition of fine printing using a century old Washington hand press. Blackstock Press was first located in the basement of Blackstock Hall and then moved to the current school of art.

"These books are a joy to experience. They are filled with illustrations and poetry in type that was hand set, each letter was placed individually before printing. Some of the books are original and humorous while others draw on classic literature. As soon as I saw these treasures I wanted to share them with our students and community. So much care and time went in to their creation. They are representative of the creative, hardworking students we find at this university “ - Carmen Lozar

Alumni Spencer Sauter writes, “I remember working on many books with Fred Brian during that period. In fact, it was Fred, and I think Jim McGowan in the English Department, who thought up the curriculum titled “Literary Graphics” that got me into art in the first place. I was an English Major, writing pretty bad prose and poetry in my Senior year (1970), when Fred and Jim encouraged me to start working with Fred on collaborative projects with English and Art Majors using the Washington hand press, which I think Fred had purchased with university money. There were lots of folks in both disciplines congregating in, at first, the basement of Blackstock hall – hence the name of the press—and then when the new art building went up, back in the print room where the press was moved. (Great story there, but don’t know if you want to get into that.)  There was a great variety of both literary and art projects with hand set type, lithos and engravings, and works by undergraduates and faculty. It was quite an exciting time, with lots of different majors engaged in all kinds of things, both in and out of the department. Certainly, became a lifetime engagement for me."

 

 

Award-Winning Ceramist to Give Stellaccio Lecture

March 8, 2018

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Award-winning ceramist and mixed media artist Beth Lo will present a lecture Tuesday, March 20 at Illinois Wesleyan University as the Anthony E. Stellaccio Visiting Artist. Lo’s lecture will begin at 6 p.m. in room 218 of the Joyce Eichhorn Ames School of Art Building (6 Ames Plaza West, Bloomington). The lecture is free and open to the public.

A professional bass player, children’s book illustrator, and vocalist, Lo served as professor of art at the University of Montana for 30 years until retiring in 2016. She began teaching at the University of Montana after receiving her master of fine arts degree in ceramics from there in 1974, and was honored with the University of Montana Provost’s Distinguished Lecturer Award in 2006 and 2010.

Born in Indiana to parents who had recently immigrated from China, much of Lo’s work in ceramics and mixed media collage draws from themes of childhood, family, Asian culture and language. Cultural marginality and blending, tradition versus Westernization, and language and translation, are key elements in her work which has been exhibited throughout the U.S. and internationally, including the Main Exhibition of the Gyeonggi International Ceramics Biennale in Korea.

She has received numerous honors including the United States Artists Hoi Fellowship in 2009, a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowship Grant in 1994 and a Montana Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship in 1989. Her figurative sculpture and pottery have been acquired by a variety of corporations, medical center and museums, including Microsoft Corporation, the University of Washington Medical Center and the Yellowstone Art Museum.

In addition to her artwork, Lo is an active bass player and vocalist for several musical ensembles including The Big Sky Mudflaps, Canta Brasil, Western Union and Salsa Loca. She has also collaborated with her sister, Ginnie Lo, on two children’s picture books, Auntie Yang’s Great Soybean Picnic (2012) and Mahjong All Day Long (2005), which won the 2005 Marion Vannett Ridgeway Award.

The Anthony E. Stellaccio Visiting Artists Fund was created by Cherie (Egbers) Stellaccio ’66, a longtime vocal instructor at the Johns Hopkins University Peabody Conservatory, and her son, ceramic artist Anthony E. Stellaccio.

Vi Kakares '20

2018 Spring Schedule

Art Exhibit Features Works by Wolf-Boze, Kronewetter ’62, Tegeler

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Illinois Wesleyan University’s Merwin and Wakely Galleries will feature the works of artists Aaron Wolf-Boze, Justin Kronewetter ’62 and Helen Tegeler from Feb. 26 through March 22. Wolf-Boze and Kronewetter will discuss their work in a gallery talk on Monday, Feb. 26 at 11 a.m., which will be followed by a reception.

A joint exhibit by glass artists Wolf-Boze and Tegeler, transitions/transformations, will be displayed in the Merwin Gallery, and Kronewetter's exhibit of photographs, Seen While Looking, will be featured in the Wakeley Gallery.

A glass artist, Wolf-Boze takes great interest in surface and texture. He exercises patience and craftsmanship as he uses glass,-- a fragile and delicate material -- to create exquisite blown glass vessels that are then cut with ornate patterns. The work depicted in transitions/transformations showcases how he carves each piece of glass to leave a framework that is similar to a paper lantern or other ephemeral objects.

Having taught at institutions and studios throughout the U.S., Wolf-Boze currently works in Chicago as a studio engineer at Firehouse Art Studio, and as a lecturer at the School of the Art Institute. He received his bachelor of arts in crafts-glass from the University of Illinois and a master of fine arts in glass from Ohio State University. He has presented his work in many exhibitions, including his most-recent one in 2013 at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago.

A glass artist based in New York, Tegeler has expanded to fibers and other materials in recent years to explore new visual and tactile qualities in her work. She is fascinated by nature in transition and seeks to examine moments of propagation, growth, adaptation and death. Her work in glass and fiber as shown in the exhibit transitions/transformations, combines her love of plants and human’s desire to collect, classify, and ultimately, define life through their understanding of the world.

Tegeler earned her bachelor’s degree in art with a concentration in glass and printmaking from Bowling Green State University and a master’s degree in glass from Southern Illinois University. She has exhibited her work internationally and has taught at institutions across the U.S., including the University of Louisville where she was a visiting faculty member in 2013. In 2015, Tegeler was an artist in residence at the Corning Museum of Glass. She currently works for the museum and maintains her studio in Corning, New York.

A painter and printmaker, Kronewetter focuses on bringing attention to things that are normally overlooked due to their presumed insignificance -- things that are typically "hidden in plain sight." His photographs showcase common things seen in an uncommon way, as he uses tightly cropped images to focus on one particular object instead of the chaotic everyday environment from which it is derived. In Seen While Looking, Kronewetter emphasizes the aesthetic value of art “as a work of art,” rather than its ability to inform or instruct.

An Indiana native, Kronewetter earned his bachelor’s degree in studio concentrating in painting and printmaking from Illinois Wesleyan in 1962 and later earned a master’s degree in painting and printmaking from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan in 1966. Kronewetter worked as an instructor in art at multiple universities including Ohio Wesleyan University, where he served as director of the university’s Ross Art Museum before retiring in 2016. He currently devotes much of his time to creating a new series of photographs while traveling from border-to-border throughout the states of the Rocky Mountain West.

Both exhibits will be on display from Feb. 26 through March 22 – except for March 10-18, when they will close for spring break – in the Joyce G. Eichhorn Ames School of Art Building (6 Ames Plaza West, Bloomington). Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 12 p.m. - 4 p.m., Tuesday evenings 7 p.m. - 9 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.

 

By Vi Kakares ’20

 

Click here for our 2018 gallery schedule

All events are free and open to the public

 

Artists interested in showing at our galleries click the Link below for more information

Artists Submissions

The Merwin and Wakeley Galleries provide exhibition schedules that support our curriculum, the University community and the general public. These exhibitions mostly consist of contemporary artworks in all media. Each exhibition is meant to suggest the variety of visual approaches one may choose to present an idea. Student exhibitions include the Annual Juried School of Art Student Exhibition, the B.F.A. Candidate Exhibition and the B.F.A. and B.A. Degree Exhibition.