Cross-cultural poster exhibit on display from now until February 11.
Sioux Center, Iowa: A new art exhibit is on display in the Dordt College gallery. The display, titled, “Woman,” is a series of posters examining a variety of different cultural depictions of womanhood.
Dordt art professor David Versluis first learned of the student-designed poster exhibit at a conference in Chicago, where his friend, Purdue professor Dennis Ichiyama, showed him the exciting new project.
The posters explore three distinct themes: Woman and Society, Woman and Family, and Great Women in History. The images are striking and evocative, and particularly poignant at our current moment in history.
This display was the result of a collaboration between Purdue University in Indiana and the Institute of Design in Havana, Cuba. Ichiyama visited Havana in 2015 and met with the Insitute’s administrators. During this meeting, they discussed the possibility of a joint project between the American and Cuban universities. The two institutions worked together to create a series of posters, which were then printed in the US by Xerox Corporation. But due to constraints from the 1960’s embargo on mailing, Ichiyama had to hand-deliver the posters to Havana, in time for the April 2016 exhibition.
This collaboration between the two countries is not merely artistic. It is historically momentous, as it represents attempted reparation of the rift between the United States and Cuba. American tourism is currently still a violation of Cuban federal law. President Obama’s 2016 visit to Havana was the first presidential visit to Cuba since Calvin Coolidge, 88 years prior. Although Obama’s visit set a precedent for rebuilding these international divides, the relations between the two countries remain strained. So artistic and scholarly collaborations, such as this poster display, are particularly meaningful in the current political climate.
The posters also have cultural significance. Cuba has made strides forward in the struggle to overcome the objectification of women, as was sometimes seen in traditional Cuban poster art. This new display represents a way of preserving this facet of the country’s cultural heritage, while reforming and reexamining its content.
A new set of these printed posters was produced specifically for the Dordt art gallery by Versluis and Ichiyama. The exhibit is free and open to the public. It will be on display at the Dordt College art gallery until February 11.
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Cuban-American Art Collaboration, “Woman,” on Exhibit at Dordt College
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Dordt Hosts Art Reception on the Mathematical Art of Yeohyun Ahn, Nov. 13
Image: ©Yeohyun Ahn, all rights reserved
South Korean artist combines code, typography, and mathematics with calligraphy.
Sioux Center, Iowa: Beginning November 2, a new art exhibition will be on display in Dordt’s Campus Center Gallery. The artwork is by Yeohyun Ahn, South Korean artist and graphic designer.
Ahn is an award-winning typographer and visual designer. She is also an assistant professor of communication at Valparaiso University in Indiana. Previously, she taught at Chicago State University, the School of Art Institute of Chicago, and did freelance graphic art for the New York Times. Her artwork has been featured in the Washington Post and the New York Times, as well as in art galleries in South Korea, Japan, and the United States.
Growing up in South Korea, Ahn was first drawn to typography by learning calligraphy from her grandparents. While her parents encouraged her to study computer science, Ahn eventually decided to pursue an MFA in graphic design.
Her artwork is a representation of “cybernetic ecology”: the harmonization of the human and the machine. Ahn uses computer coding and mathematical algorithms to create abstract representations of letters and words, which simultaneously evoke cutting-edge technology and the natural or religious. To create her works, Ahn utilizes a variety of computer software, including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and “Processing” – a more recent program that integrates coding and artwork.
“[My pieces] convey diversified visual messages inspired by nature,” says Ahn, “addressing environmental issues such as green design, healing through art, and exploring philosophical and religious interpretations regarding life, death and love.”
Two of Ahn’s collections: “The Bible + Code” and “O Antiphones + Code” will be exhibited in the Campus Center Gallery at Dordt from November 2 until the end of December. “The Bible + Code” is inspired by Scriptural imagery, and “O Antiphones + Code” was created for the 2016 Advent Vespers booklet for the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valparaiso University.
A reception will be held at Dordt’s Campus Center Gallery on November 13, from 6:45-8:00 p.m., with a discussion at 7:00 p.m.
Monday, May 15, 2017
new work: David Versluis's powder-coated steel sculpture “Rungs to Rings” for Public Art Edina 2017-18
Rungs to Rings, 2017
David Versluis sculptor (Versluis is dusting and polishing the piece)
Powder-coated, welded steel, laser-cut circles
8'H x 27"W x 27"D
Artist Statement: Rungs and Rings
This sculpture suggests a pillar or column that combines bi-dimensional planes, ornamented with a repeating circle motif. Of interest are the circular cut-outs that let observers see through the piece and frame background views, allowing the piece to interact with the location and activating a multi-dimensional experience for the viewer.
Two thick steel plates, with laser cut-out circles, stand upright at a 90-degree angle. All the parts are welded together perpendicular to a circular base—the weld is a seamless bond that’s solid and weather tight. The sculpture produces a shadow, casting a delightful pattern within the piece and on the ground. Depending on the intensity of sunshine, the shadows can be diffused or hard-edged.
The proposed color is a powder-coated bright red which is meant to accent the area in which the piece is displayed.On May 11, 2017 we installed the powder-coated steel sculpture “Rungs to Rings” at 50th and France in Edina, Minnesota. The piece was selected by Public Art Edina and the City of Edina for 2017-18. I’m grateful to Michael Frey, Edina Art Center and assistance from Cory Shubert. The piece stands 10 ft. high including the pedestal and 350 lbs.
Versluis is checking the installation and touching-up the painted anchor bolts. Read More......
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
David Versluis | new work: Public Art Edina, Minnesota—Sculpture Exhibit 2017–18
This piece, titled “Rungs to Rings” was selected by the Edina Art Center, city of Edina (Minneapolis metro) for the 2017–18 outdoor public sculpture exhibition. The eight foot high (325 lbs), welded, all-steel and powder-coated sculpture will be rented for a year starting in May. The piece will be placed on a twenty-inches high pedestal and elevated to a total height of almost ten feet.
Sunday, April 2, 2017
New work—David Versluis: Sioux County Oratorio Poster for 2017
David Versluis, designer and photographer
12x18 inches
2017
Sunday, March 12, 2017
Abstract Experiments: Latin American Art on Paper after 1950—Art Institute of Chicago
Hélio Oiticica. GFR 022, 1955. Collection of Donna and Howard Stone.
All images courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
The following is from the AIC gallery didactics:
“The Neoconcrete movement emerged in Rio de Janeiro as a reaction to the perceived rigidity of the Brazilian Concrete art movement as it was practiced in São Paulo. The Neoconcretists, among them Lygia Clark, Lygia Pape, and Hélio Oiticica rejected the commodification of the art object and embraced a poetic, participatory and multi-sensory experience. In their two-dimensional work the artists of the Neoconcrete movement replaced the strict geometry of concrete art with softened more organic forms. Moving into the three-dimensional realm, they turned spectators into participants in order to challenge to traditional relationship of the viewer to the work of art.”
Hélio Oiticica. Metaesquema, 1958–59. Collection of Diane and Bruce Halle. In 1959 the two-dimensional geometric forms of Oiticica’s early paintings on cardboard began to transition into his Bilateral and Spatial Reliefs, which were suspended from the ceiling.
Manuel Espinoza. Celestial Theme, from 21 Estampadores de Colombia, Mexico y Venuzuela, 1972. Gift of the Container Corporation of America. This piece exemplifies the genre of Venezuelan kineticism.
Friday, March 10, 2017
Lygia Clark: “Bicho—monumento a todas as situações”—the inherent creatureliness of all things
Lygia Clark (Brazilian, 1920-1988)
Bicho—Monument to All Situations (Bicho—monumento a todas as situações), 1960
Aluminum
65.4 x 53.5 x 40.6 cm (25 3/4 x 21 x 16 in.)
From the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago
photographs by versluis 2017
The following information is from the AIC label:
Clark began producing bichos, Portuguese for “critters,” in 1959. The articulated aluminum sculptures are small enough to be held. Clark designed each piece to be manipulated by the viewer. The artist understood the bichos as living creatures able to move and occupy space. The variability inherent in the works in this series creates a unique experience by stimulating both physical and visual sensations, activating the object and the viewer in the process. Through their titles and shapes, certain of the bichos suggest a wider, even utopian context (as well as content), and this work bears a strongly architectural sensibility appearing in a number of its configurations like a dynamic skyscraper or winged creature.Read More......
John Massey, graphic designer (b. 1931): Carton de Venezuela, 1964 Calendar Posters— On display at the Art Institute of Chicago
John Massey Carton de Venezuela
photographs by versluis 2017
The following text is taken form the Art Institute of Chicago gallery didactics:
One of Chicago’s great design stories emerged from the Container Corporation of America (CCA) in the middle of the 20th century. The CCA’s founder, Walter Paepcke, was an influential patron of the arts and was integral in bringing the New Bauhaus, later folded into the Illinois Institute of Technology, to the city. At CCA he enlisted exceptionally talented graphic designers such as the Austrian Herbert Bayer and the Chicagoan John Massey, whose work for CCA is featured here.Read More......
Massey began working at CCA in 1957, and upon his appointment as head of design in 1964 he formed a research arm, the Center for Advanced Research in Design(CARD). The work of CARD extended beyond the traditional work of CCA to projects such as the Chicago Civic Poster campaign. Supported fully by Paepcke, this unusual arrangement enabled great creativity and innovation within a corporate structure. The portfolio of Massey’s work recently acquired by the Art Institute of Chicago demonstrates the designer’s ingenuity across a range of projects.
John Massey (American, born 1931)
John Massey designed this set of posters for the CCA’s subsidiary Carton de Venezuela. The set was intended as a calendar for clients, with each poster representing a different month of the year. The strong, clean lines and bold colors reflect one of Massey’s primary influences, the Swiss school of design. Each poster advertises a line of paper products sold by the company. The poster Febrero, for example, is_an abstracted view of the ends of paper set up 1in an S curve. Throughout the series, Massey favored design over corporate promotion, including only a small logo for Carton de Venezuela in the bottom left corner. These posters represent an overall approach to design by Massey and illustrate the important body of work he deve1oped while the director of CARD.
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Thursday, January 12, 2017
BRIGHT & BEAUTIFUL—Corita Kent exhibition at Dordt College
BRIGHT & BEAUTIFUL: Dordt College is currently displaying a selection of original screen prints by Corita Kent from the collection of the Corita Art Center, Los Angeles. The exhibition of 26 prints will be on display from January 6 to February 12. In 2016 Corita Kent received the AIGA Medalist Award.
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Corita Kent exhibit on display at Dordt College
Corita Kent
Love, 1979
Screen Print, 20 x 20 inches
“…the ability to feel is very beautiful.” —Corita Kent
Dordt College will display a selection of original screen prints by Corita Kent from the collection of the Corita Art Center, Los Angeles. The exhibition of 26 prints will be on display from January 6 to February 12.
The exhibition has been curated by Dordt College Professor of Art David Versluis. “I attempted to select work that represents the range of Corita Kent’s typographic style and expressiveness,” says Versluis. “As a graphic design instructor for many years I’ve thought about the qualities of Corita Kent and her activist screen prints of the ’60s and ’70s. This exhibition suggests that her message and image prints are as important and relevant for us today as they were nearly 50 years ago.”
Corita Kent (Sister Mary Corita) (1918–1986), born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, was an artist, educator, and advocate for social justice. At age 18 she entered the religious order Immaculate Heart of Mary, eventually teaching in and then heading up the art department at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles. Her work evolved from figurative and religious to incorporating advertising images and slogans, popular song lyrics, biblical verses, and literature. Throughout the ’60s, her work became increasingly political, urging viewers to consider poverty, racism, and injustice.
In 1968 she left the order and moved to Boston. Her work evolved into a sparser, introspective style, influenced by living in a new environment, a secular life, and her battles with cancer. She remained active in social causes until her death in 1986. At the time of her death, she had created almost 800 screen print editions, thousands of watercolors, and innumerable public and private commissions.
Roy R. Behrens sent me this review of the Corita Kent catalog from the College Art Association.
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Perhaps this is a Leonard Baskin image?
Over 30 years ago I received a framed original print in exchange for curatorial services. The print had been in the collection of a person at Smith College in Northampton Mass. This label was on the dust cover which suggests a very interesting history. Perhaps this is a Leonard Baskin image? If it’s not then another artist was influenced by Baskin. Baskin taught sculpture and printmaking at Smith College from 1953 until 1974.
label size: 2 x 2.25 inches.
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Backgrounded—Identity Sightings by Rick Valicenti
Installation views: Backgrounded: Identity Sightings by Rick Valicenti, Artist-in-Residence, Loyola University, Chicago, 2016-17 (iPhone photographs, Translucent window vinyl).
Out of focus yet present — [persons] behind those captioned in the NY Times, 2013–16. From the exhibition: (maybe) THIS TIME at Loyola University Ralph Arnold Gallery. (the exhibition has ended. photographs courtesy of Thirst/3st)
From the exhibition prospectus: “Not everyone is the focus of media attention. This portraiture looked on those positioned behind captioned subjects featured in the NY Times.”
Having seen this show in October I’ve pondered this piece:
The correlation of recognition and memory—
For his solo exhibition at Loyola, Valicenti works within the neutral wall color of the gallery space while brilliantly utilizing the picture window of the gallery to reach out to those on the street and audiences beyond the gallery. Galleries tend to disengage artifacts from the outside world, but Valicenti as both artist and curator does not circumvent the gallery. Instead he projects its contents to the public, which is quite amazing.
Friday, November 18, 2016
Rick Valicenti: Patriot Table—from the exhibition “(maybe) THIS TIME”
Rick Valicenti: Patriot Table made in collaboration with Jonathan Nesci.
nothing normative—in post-election Patriot Table becomes even more poignant.
From the exhibition: (maybe) THIS TIME
Loyola University Artist-in-Residence, 2016–17 Ralph Arnold Gallery
Exhibition ends 26 November 2016
The following text taken from Thirst/3st:
“Red, White, Blue and Dangerous—this life-threatening side table is the ideal accent in any flag waving, All-American decor.”
There’s no question this piece can stand on its own—the red, white, and blue pork pie drum/table supported by javelin legs, which includes the stereoscopic reflection of the mirror on which this piece stands. Time will tell if hell is on the way—meanwhile Valicenti’s piece offers help by contrasting irony (sans cynicism) with an artifact of exquisite design and craft. Read More......
Thursday, October 27, 2016
A signature piece: Rick Valicenti’s “A Wheel of Fortune—Round and Round”
From the exhibition: (maybe) THIS TIME
Rick Valicenti
Loyola University Artist-in-Residence, 2016–17
Ralph Arnold Gallery
11 October – 26 November 2016
Chicago based artist/designer Rick Valicenti’s Wheel of Fortune—Round and Round installation artwork seems to be a hybrid and hyperbolic time piece with a subtle note of George Nelson’s modern clock designs. The light rays emanating from the center hint at Bernini’s Ecstasy, while the centralized casting of a “death mask” accents the vanitas genre without the moralizing. The piece is a roulette and metaphor for all the small deeds of civility. Photograph above used with permission.
Wheel of Fortune 2016
Industrial Felt
60 x 60"
Fabricated by West Supply
Unique
Round and Round 2016
Polished Aluminum
72 x 72"
In collaboration with Taek Kim
Fabricated by West Supply
Unique
Monday, August 29, 2016
Friday, August 5, 2016
James Castle, a small show at Mia, Minneapolis — was Castle, an isolated, self-taught artist, influenced by Frans Kline’s “Chair” (1950) or Robert Rauschenberg ?
James Castle (American, 1899-1977)
Untitled (Chair), undated
The following information is taken from the museum display labels:
Light brown corrugated cardboard faced with tan paper; cut, folded, wrapped, and adhered; sewn and tied with white cotton string, blue cotton string, sisal twine; red-brown wash, red-brown wax crayon, soot, wood. Private collection, Minneapolis.
For this large-scale construction, Castle combined pictorial and sculptural elements to create a highly distinctive interpretation of a common wooden chair. At nearly two feet tall, the work is larger than most of his constructions, approaching the actual size of a child’s chair. It functions on two distinct planes—emblematic and descriptive—mimicking the form and physical attributes of its model. Is this chair, or is this an image of chair? It’s actually both, a hybrid that challenges our preconceived notion of “chairness.”Read More......
[About] James Castle
The Experience of Every Day
James Charles Castle was a self-taught American artist who lived his entire life in southwest Idaho. Born profoundly deaf in 1899. Castle grew grew up on a modest farmstead operated by his parents and seven siblings. The family farm would become a lifelong sanctuary for Castle, who remained at home with his parents until their death. and then with other relatives until his own death in 1977. Despite his family’s unwavering love and support. Castle was socially isolated, due to is inability to communicate conventionally. As a child. he attended a school for the deaf and blind, but never learned to read. write. speak sign. or lip-read. He never married or had children of his own.
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art: Twentieth Century Modern Design
Pictured L-R (following information taken from the museum display labels) Photograph by © versluis 2016:
Marcel Lajos Breuer, American (born Hungary), 1902-1981
“Wassily” armchair, model B3 c. 1926
Chrome-plated steel, canvas
Standard Möbel, Manufacturer, Berlin, 1927-1928
This armchair helped change the course of the furniture industry in the early 1900s. Marcel Lajos Breuer used tubular steel and canvas in the design, instead of wood and other conventional materials. Breuer was reportedly inspired by the lightness of his bicycle frame, made of strong tubular steel, and wanted to use the material in his furniture design. The chair is nicknamed “Wassily” because of painter Wassily Kandinsky’s appreciation of the chair.
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Eero Saarinen, Designer, American (born Finland) 1910-1961
Studio Loja Saarinen, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Maker
American, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Loja Saarinen, Maker, Finnish 1879-1968
Wall hanging, c. 1934
linen, silk; discontinuous supplementary weft patterning
This object can be seen as the product of an extremely talented family. The angular leaping fish and muted colors are hallmarks of the American Art Deco style, and are attributed to Eero Saarinen. The piece was created in the studio of his mother, Loja at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, a leader in the development of modernism in the United States. Cranbrook was itself a family affair, guided by Loja and her husband, architect Eliel Saarinen. In the late 1930s, Loja and Eliel's daughter Pipsan and her husband, J. Robert F. Swanson, placed the hanging in the Charles J. Koebel residence in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Swanson designed the house and Pipsan designed the interiors.
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Marcel Lajos Breuer, American (born Hungary), 1902-1981
Nest of table (model B9-9c), 1926-30s, 1926-30
Gebrüder Thonet, Manufacturer, Frankenberg, Germany, est. 1849
Chromium-plated steel, ebonized wood
Smaller tables are concealed within larger ones in this nest of tables, and can be pulled out at a moment’s notice. The tables are primarily made of tubular steel, a highly innovative material at the time and easier to bend than wood. Originally intended as stools, these tables were a favorite design of Breuer’s simple, functional, space-saving, and inexpensive.
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Attributed to Fritz August Breuhaus de Groot, German, 1883-1960
Table lamp, c. 1928
Chromium-plated metal, glass
Metallwaren Fabrik (a.k.a. WMF)
Manufacturer: Württembergische
Breuhaus de Groot designed interiors for large modes of transportation, such as trains, ocean liners, and, most famously, the doomed Hindenburg airship that met its fiery demise on May 6, 1937. This lamp would have fit perfectly in the compact travel spaces he typically designed.
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Alvar Aalto, Finnish 1898-1976
“Paimio” chair, c 1932
Laminated birch, bent plywood
Alvar Aalto, an architect and designer, is perhaps best known today for has furniture. He designed this relaxing armchair for the Paimio Tuberculosis Sanatorium in southwest Finland One of h1s earliest designs, it uses laminated birch, an uncommon material for furniture at the t1me. The chair was extremely strong, comfortable, and attractive, and could be inexpensively and easily manufactured. It is still produced by Artek, the company founded by Aalto and three partners.
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Mika Negishi Laidlaw: 2015 McKnight Fellowship Recipient, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis
Mika Negishi Laidlaw, Winter’s Hope, 2016, slipcast porcelain, 27 x 16 x 13".
photograph by ©versluis 2016
“…From early on much of her work has involved irregular curving forms suggestive of the body.…” [Negishi Laidlaw then stacks these forms upon one another to support on object]—“an abstract body”.… She associates these with the protective comfort of her grandmother and describes the emotive feeling as “unconditional love”. Her forms imply human relationships and comfort—‘home’ in the largest sense. (1)
- Koplos, Janet. “Mika Negishi Laidlaw: Home.” Six McKnight Artists. Ed. Elizibeth Colemen. Minneapolis: Northern Clay Center, 2016. 6-7. Print.
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Rebecca Hutchinson: “Florilegium” Show / Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis
Tranquil Burst, an installation by Rebecca Hutchinson.
porcelain, paperclay, handmade paper, adhesive, adobe, willow, 2016.
Northern Clay Center—Contemporary clay work and ceramic sculpture gallery in Minneapolis. Photograph by © versluis 2016
The following information is from the exhibition label:
In nature there are d1verse states of existence that I continue to study the structure of nature. the resulting state of nature after interact1on with other forces of nature. the resilience of nature. and the complexity and awe 1n the engineering of nature All of these states of nature are rooted and formed by the motivation and need to survive, and they provide countless influences for diverse construction and conceptual possibilities for art making. More specifically. they provide endless opportunities for metaphor, as they speak to the depth and complexity of living with the hopes of revealing the human condition in visual and sculptural form, utiliZing traditional and non-traditional ceramic materials and processes.Read More......
My work focuses on the respect for process and the endless influences found in nature. Formally and structurally, my interest is in the details—quality of craft, connections. and structure -and conceptually. 1n an understanding of all physical parts to the whole. I build clay and fibrous sculptural works made from indigenous materials. such as recycled 100% natural fiber clothing or harvested garden materials beaten down to pulp and formed Into handmade sheets. and industrial cast-off surplus materials. like cotton thread from the bedding industry, shredded 100 dollar bills taken out of circulation, or sisal from the burlap bag industry.
Clay is either site-dug or purchased and mixed with pulp to create a slurry of paperclay. I hand model, slip trail, and dip surplus industrial materials or handmade paper forms and pour paperclay slip between papers, and cut and construct. Each paperclay form is built to be fired or remain non-fired A sticky mixture of paperclay mixed with glue binds the handmade paper and the paperclay florets to each other and to a simply constructed, wooden frame. Installation construction is influenced conceptually by specific growth patterns. but does not replicate nature. Like an animal that uses the vernacular from place. I, too, upcycle humble materials and remake them into what I hope to be exquisite sculptural forms. …
