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UNK Art Faculty MONA is pleased to have the opportunity to showcase artwork of the active and emeritus faculty of the Art and Art History Department at the University of Nebraska Kearney. This biennial exhibition features work by 23 artists/educators who submit their most recent endeavors in photography, sculpture, printmaking, ceramics, paintings, or installations. The resulting exhibition is one that is both diverse and dynamic, and highlights the artistic talent and integrity of individuals who are shaping a new generation of Nebraska artists. Newcomers to the UNK Art faculty are Derrick Burbul and Chad Fonfara. Burbul came to the University in 2005 as Assistant Professor, Foundation/Photography. His latest project utilizes photography to investigate “places each of us identifies with, something that has come to be called ‘a sense of place.’” Completed works from this investigation are a combination of black and white photographs alongside text. These photographs are not necessarily taken by Burbul. In the projectVicarious Journeys, the artist sends pinhole cameras to people throughout the world who then expose them at a personal, meaningful place. These individuals then write a statement about the place, why it was chosen, and send it to Burbul. In this manner of working, the artist goes well beyond his own experience and highlights differences and commonalities in perspectives that cross language and physical barriers. Derrick Burbul is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Superior, with a Bachelor of Science degree. In 2000, he received a Master of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in Photography from the University of Idaho, Moscow. Prior to his arrival at UNK, Burbul was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Graceland University in Iowa; an Adjunct Professor at the Des Moines Area Community College, Boone, Iowa; and a Lecturer at Iowa State University, Ames. Chad Fonfara has come full circle at the University of Nebraska Kearney. In 1996, Fonfara received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from UNK with an emphasis in Ceramics and Sculpture. Ten years later, the student became the instructor when he began teaching at UNK this past fall. In his recent work Livingroom Keepsake, Fonfara presents to the viewer a waist-high wood floor with a wall, working heat register, and potted plant. The constructed space is a fragment of a childhood home of the artist. The recreation (but not “replication”) is a reaching back for the artist where he explores memory and how it is formed. As he states, “Memory is infused in with the ordinary; the wear of a couch cushion, the melted plastic of an old nightlight, the rise and fall of a window curtain at night, the shape of a water stain or the line of plaster crack….These room fragments are built…as new containers where an amalgamation of memories is elicited.” After completion of his undergraduate degree, Fonfara continued with graduate studies at UNK before attending Kansas State University where, in 2003, he received a Master of Fine Arts degree. Spanning generations and cultures, the UNK Art Faculty Exhibition is one that not only offers varying media and styles of artwork but also, perspectives and experience. The woven fiber piece of John Dinsmore is the culmination of an over 30-year career. Mark Hartman, head of the Art department, is a native Nebraskan who creates large scale expressionist paintings. These are juxtaposed with the prints of Russian native, Victoria Goro-Rapoport, and the graphic design work of Wuthichai “Juff” Choonhasakulchoke, originally from Thailand. The collection of works in the 2007 UNK Art Faculty Exhibition is again a testament to the talent at UNK and a fitting educational and artistic experience for visitors to MONA. Ceramic Selections from MONA’s Collection
A compact and impressive group of ceramic work shows the profound contribution clay artists have made to Nebraska’s artistic climate. Included are internationally renowned ceramicist Jun Kaneko; University of Nebraska-Lincoln ceramics faculty members Eddie Dominguez and Gail Kendall; University of Nebraska Kearney Professor of Ceramics Jake Jacobson; as well as Phyllis Campbell Aspen, Jerry Horning, John Mason, Patricia Schemmer, Paul Soldner, and MONA’s most recently acquired work by Winnebago potter, Jacquie Stevens. Heritage of Audubon: Today’s Wildlife
Artists
Join MONA in celebrating the heritage of John James Audubon as we showcase our entire collection of his mammal lithographs and highlight the work of four contemporary wildlife artists: paintings by Charlotte Edwards, photographs by Michael Forsberg, and sculpture by Gary Ginther and Delmar Pettigrew. Why do we celebrate Audubon’s accomplishments? Certainly there were other naturalists, other painters of wildlife working in the same period in which he lived. It is notable, however, that Audubon is credited with conducting the first known North American bird banding experiment. In later years Audubon’s pursuit of specimens led to the discovery and identification of new species. It is perhaps difficult to say what would become more important to Audubon – the study of nature, or the quest to render a collection of artwork and scientific observations that would bring him renown. From youth Audubon enjoyed drawing and painting, but his technical achievements were no better or worse than many other artists. The key to his success was his use of specialized armatures that enabled him to pose birds in life-like stances. Despite the care taken by his contemporaries, dead bird specimens continued to look dead when rendered on paper. Live birds were, in fact, too lively to depict with adequate detail. John James used wire threaded through his birds to position them in life-like positions observed from nature, and surrounded them in studies of flora provided by his assistant. Thus, the artist was able to create bird drawings and paintings that combined intricate detailing and a life-like manner. Audubon wanted to be recognized as scientist and artist. He enjoyed some success when The Birds of America was printed in both the life-size edition and later in the smaller octavo size. He lived to see selections from his mammal tome come into being – The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America was finished, however, by his son John Woodhouse. Today Audubon’s work is recognized and celebrated by people all over the world. The beauty of his paintings and the lithographs that resulted from them are respected for their beauty and for depictions of real mannerisms and spectacular detail.
MONA has an excellent collection of works by John James Audubon
and his son. It is important to point out that though Audubon worked
in modes
of drawing
and painting, the MONA collection specializes in the lithographs.
Celebrate the heritage of Audubon, and enjoy the work of Edwards,
Forsberg, Ginther,
and Pettigrew – artists who most certainly follow in his footsteps and
forge the way for wildlife study and conservation. Birds of Nebraska Join us once again as we exhibit artworks depicting Nebraska’s favorite avian visitors and year-round residents. Several selections from Audubon’s noted work The Birds of America are displayed as well as works by Cy Black, Cliff Hollestelle, Miles Maryott, Nadine McHenry, Samuel Sigsbee and Ruth Scott, and Robert Weaver. Also featured are two of MONA’s newest acquisitions, goose decoys by John Albert Lundgren. Though once used in hunting, the decoys are now retired to be enjoyed as fine specimens of folk art and craft. Nebraska Now: Aaron Holz, Paintings
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Assistant Professor of Painting, Aaron Holz, creates oil, acrylic, and resin works on mylar, panels, and baby food caps that have been described as a cross between Op Art and Portraiture. While the paintings (primarily depicting friends with partners) are of small to medium size, each has a formidable presence, attributable to the ground created and how subjects are rendered. To achieve depth within the plane of the painting, Holz first builds up a ground with acrylic gesso and creates a pattern within that is much akin to the Op art paintings of Bridget Riley. This surface not only creates, as the artist states, “a physical depth…but an implied depth.” Atop this surface, Holz applies a clear layer of resin and then paints the portrait of his friend’s head. Sometimes, to create further interest, visual variety, and depth, Holz places lenses over the photographs which he is painting from, providing distortion to the subjects. The completed paintings result in a fusing of contemporary and classic portraiture. This series of work began, as the artist states, “with an idea of portraits and couples (especially the partners we choose).” Interested in “the possibility of suggesting a narrative through a double portrait,” Holz specifically “looked towards” one of the Flemish masters of portraiture, Hans Memling. Like Memling’s Portinari, a painting of a husband and wife on two separate panels, Holz’s Paula and Carlos is presented in the same manner. One panel depicts Paula (the left) and the other depicts Carlos. While Memling’s couple faces towards the center/each other, Holz’s painting has both Paula and Carlos facing towards the right. Their gazes are what is telling of their personalities as observed by the artist – one is possibly more assertive, the other restrained…quiet. Paula casts her eyes in a relaxed, up-front manner, directly addressing the viewer/artist. Carlos’ eyes look towards the lower left and are also relaxed, yet unquestionably not directly at the viewer/artist, but sublimely back in the direction of his wife. By the use of Holz’s methodical, technical approach and insightful interpretation of his friends, paintings that hold both the viewer’s eye and mind are achieved.
Aaron Holz has been Assistant Professor of Painting at UNL since
2004. In 2003-2004, he served as Adjunct Professor at College of Saint
Rose, Albany, New York,
and Adjunct Professor at the University at Albany, State University New York.
In 1995, he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Moorhead State University
(Summa Cum Laude with Honors) and went on to complete a Master of Fine Art
from the University at Albany, SUNY, in 2001. He has recently exhibited work
in New York and Boston, including a solo show at Rare Gallery in New York City’s
Chelsea as well as inclusion in a group exhibition at the Bemis Center for
Contemporary Art in Omaha, Nebraska.
Nebraska Now: John Fronczak, Paintings
by John Fronczak, oil on linen, 2006 In his first solo exhibition in Nebraska, seasoned artist and University of Nebraska Kearney Art and Art History Lecturer John Fronczak juxtaposes non-representational oil paintings alongside hyper-realistic ones. The resulting mix of this handful of seemingly disparate work reveals an astute, thoughtful, and methodical painter enthralled with the process of creation and the investigation of form, structure, and depth to craft life and new worlds within a plane. Within this exhibition, two paintings can serve as examples of the artist’s interests, intent, and purpose. The hyper-realistic 3120 10th Avenue at Dusk and the non-representational Dialogue 1 both divide space and create various “worlds” or “life” all unto their own. In each painting, the canvas is split in half by means of the artist’s composition. In 3120 10th Avenue, Fronczak offers an indoor and outdoor scene of a house from the vantage of the porch. In Dialogue 1, the artist also offers two sides of an abstract composition – both complex and flowing from one side to the next, but distinctly separate. In the two paintings, space is repeatedly split to create new form. 3120 10th Avenue at Dusk presents an indoor/outdoor view but goes further by capturing the reflection of a scene outside of our viewpoint in the front window. Further still, the layer of the reflection atop the view of the house interior creates an additional dimension. Dialogue I, although abstract, accomplishes the same through its various split and refracted planes that burst and reproduce throughout the canvas. As Fronczak states, “shapes are to be likened to ‘living things,’ much like characters in a play or novel. And like theatrical or literary characters, they should be endowed with the capability of forcefully interacting with other shape ‘characters.’ In this way, they not only engender pictorial ‘stories’ and foster graphic movement throughout the field, but can promote a living presence.” Fronczak believes that what makes meaningful painting is the process of working out the problem of creating worlds and life on a flat plane with the use of paint and brushes. The destination/completion of these worlds and structure are simply the by-product of the “journey.” He cites artist Paul Klee in On Modern Art, “an ideal image is that of ‘creation’ itself, as Genesis, rather than . . . the image of nature, the finished product.”
Collection of the Artist Freda Spaulding
As an artist, Freda Spaulding contributed to the cultural climate and history of Nebraska through her personal creative endeavors, primarily in the area of printmaking. Yet as an art educator and arts advocate, her passion for the arts reached beyond her private studio doors to make an indelible impact on the students, artists, and collectors throughout the state. The artwork of Freda Spaulding varies in style and approach, ranging from figurative to abstract. What emerges is an artist cognizant of modernist trends, deeply influenced by them, and eager to immerse herself in these trends not only to experiment but also to share them with the artistic community. Two artists who come to mind when viewing Spaulding works are Georges Rouault and, more pointedly, Amedeo Modigliani. In Carlotta, Spaulding paints a portrait of a female figure. Isolating the head and shoulders, the image created is both simplified and stylized with flat and, as Rouault did, heavily outlined and segmented planes. Much like Modigliani, Spaulding gives the figure an elongated neck, a scoop-like nose, and dark almond-shaped eyes. Spaulding approaches many of her other paintings and prints in much the same way, although a lighter touch pervades her sketches. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska on January 30, 1893, Spaulding studied art in Nebraska, and then left the state to enroll at some of the finest schools before returning to her home on the plains. In 1915, Spaulding received her degree from the University of Nebraska, then moved to New York to study at the Parsons School of Design. Following her time in the City, she relocated to North Carolina for a brief time and studied under the German-American painter, Josef Albers, then head of the art department at Black Mountain College. When Spaulding returned to Nebraska, she joined the University of Nebraska art faculty, and completed a Master of Fine Art degree from the University of Colorado. In 1963, Spaulding retired from UNL. She was one of the founding members of the Lincoln Artist’s Guild and active in the Associated Artists of Omaha. She died in 1974 at age 81. |
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