Department News
Julia and Frank Daniels, Jr. give Gillespie sculptures to the department
Julia and Frank Daniels, Jr. have given two sculptures by Dorothy Gillespie to the department. The brightly enameled aluminum sculptures, entitled Island Chieftain’s Crest #1 and Island Chieftain’s Crest #2 have been installed in the atrium of the Cultural Arts Building (pictured right, in photo by Caroline Cropp). The department is most grateful to the Daniels for their generous gifts.
ART HISTORY FACULTY
Dr. Vibeke Olson presented a paper at the British Museum in London
Dr. Olson's paper, entitled, "Embodying the Saint: Mystical Visions, Maria Lactans and the Miracle of Mary's Milk", was presented at the conference, "Matter of Faith" in October. The paper will be subsequently published in the conference proceedings.
Dr. Amy Kirschke lectures and teaches in South Africa
Amy Kirschke delivered two lectures in South Africa this summer, a lecture on her new book project including Women Artists of the Harlem Renaissance at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) in Port Elizabeth South Africa in May, and a lecture at University of Pretoria, in Pretoria, South Africa on her recent research on Romare Bearden, in June of 2011. Kirschke was on a summer research grant in South Africa working on her new book project, "S.A. /USA" , and also served on a doctoral committee at University of Pretoria.
This spring, Professor Kirschke will be teaching a contemporary art history course with Professor Mary Duker at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University., Students from UNCW and NMMU will take the course together, in real time, via live web-cast. Kirschke will accompany UNCW students to NMMU at the conclusion of the course.
Dr. Nicholas Hudson returns from five weeks of archaeological work at the ancient city of Thmuis (modern Tell Timai) in the Nile Delta
The city was a large Greco-Roman city that flourished from the 4th century BC to the 8th century AD. Dr. Hudson serves as the ceramic expert for the project, which included twenty-five students from universities in England, Australia, and the USA, including one of our own UNCW Art History majors. During the course of the season Dr. Hudson trained the student participants to identify and sort through Greek and Roman pottery as part of the archaeological discovery. By the end of five full weeks of digging, the team uncovered, cleaned, and processed 2,500kg of potter, all of which provides new and exciting information about life in Lower Egypt during the Greek and Roman periods. We’re already looking forward to next year’s excavations and anyone who is interested in participating should contact Dr. Hudson for more information.
STUDIO ART FACULTY
Vicky Smith receives NCAC Regional Artist Grant
Vicky Smith is the recipient of a 2011-12 Regional Artist Grantl.The grant will fund a project consisting of locating and mining clay thoughout North Carolina and making wall art with the starting point being the clay site. The project is supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Cultural Resources with additional funding from local arts councils in Cumberland, Moore, New Hanover and Robeson counties.
Smith has also received an nvitation to Prespa's Ceramic Colony in Resen, Macedonia. The colony, established in the 1970s, attracts renowned artists from all over the world. The organization is included in the UNESCO International Academy of Ceramics..
Shannon Bourne joins part time faculty
Shannon Bourne is a North Carolina native and UNCW alumni twice over, earning a BS degree in Marine Biology in 1987 and a Bachelor of Art degree in 2007. In 2011, Shannon received an MFA in Printmaking from the Academy of Art in San Francisco.
Throughout her academic career, Shannon has been awarded scholarships, student residencies, and grant. In 2007, Bourne was chosen as one of the recipients of the statewide University of North Carolina Artist Purchase Award.She has participated in several group shows and solo exhibitions throughout North Carolina and her work is held in both private and public collections.
Shannon currently maintains a printmaking studio in downtown Wilmington. You can view her work at www.shannonbourneart.net
Ann Connor exhibits widely 
Professor Ann Conner exhibited in recent exhibits New Prints 2012/Winter, IPCNY, International Print Center New York, NY; Delta National Small Prints Exhibition, Bradbury Gallery, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR; thINK, University of New Orleans Gallery; and Advancing Tradition: Twenty Years of Printmaking at Flatbed Press, Martin Museum of Art, Baylor University, Waco, TX. Northeastern University Charlotte acquired Park series of woodcuts. (Pictured left: Brentwood 4, woodcut printed and published at Flatbed Press, Austin, TX.)
Don Furst Recent International Exhibits
Professor Donald Furst is currently exhibiting a mezzotint titled X = in the British International Miniature Print Exhibition, London.
Furst’s stone lithography work was chosen for the 3rd Bangkok Triennial International Print & Drawing Exhibition for continuing exhibit in Thailand during the next two years.
Furst was recently invited to display two intaglio prints in “Multiple Encounters 2012; Indo U.S. Print Exhibition” at the National Academy of Art, New Delhi, India. In Echolalia pictured left.
Ned Irvine designs and prints letterpress book
Ned Irvine worked in the Somnabulist Tango Press in Greenville, NC during the summer of 2011 to produce "Prayers for Lillian" by the poet Cate Chason of Providence, Rhode Island. The commission was for an edition of 75 paper and 25 hardcover copies of the 28 page book printed and bound by hand.
Courtney Johnson joins studio art faculty, exhibits and publishes
Courtney Johnson has joined the studio art faculty as an assistant professor of photography. She earned her M.F.A. from the University of Miami.
Johnson's work will be featured in an upcoming solo exhibition opening March 1, 2012 at Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York as well as Black & White at the Newspace Center for Photography in Portland, OR from February 3 through 26, and the Houston Center for Photography 2012 Print Auction, Catalog, and Exhibition through February 20, 2012.
Johnson will be teaching a two-day workshop on Cliché-Verre at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, CT in February, and her essay, Cliché-Verre: The History and Future of Photography, was published in the current issue of SuperMassiveBlackHole, Ireland's leading international online photography magazine.
Andi Steele creates two site-specific installations
Andi Steele will exhibit Interspace, a site-specific installation at the City Gallery Chastain in Atlanta, Georgia from March 30th-May 5th, 2012. Interspace will consist of multiple lines of monofilament that will weave across the space. The lines will subtly guide movement around the space and into newly defined areas. By altering the space, Steele encourages people to slow and look at what is around them, within the installation site, and in their larger environment.
Professor Steele will also be installing Through, an outdoor sculpture, as part of the North Georgia Sculpture Exhibition at North Georgia College & State University in Dahlonega, Georgia. The exhibit will run March 31st, 2012-March 16th, 2013.
Professor Steele received a 2011-12 North Carolina Arts Council Regional Artist Project Grant. She is using the funding to develop a website. The website, www.andisteele.com will go live in April. Visit her site to view her past work and future projects.
Pam Toll travels two continents during summer of 2011
In May, 2011 Pam Toll participated in “Paint a Future” (www.paintafuture.org), South Africa, to help children in Africa realize dreams voiced in their own paintings.
Professor Toll describes the experience: "12 international artists painted in South Africa for two schools; Masizame (Plettenberg Bay) and Happy Feet (George). We actually met and worked with the children, took them to an elephant park, and helped them paint the new computer lab provided by well known singer, Wende. Crecencia of Happy Feet School made a drawing that inspired my own painting which sold in February 2012. The money raised will help fund Crecentia’s education and her dream to become a teacher. I helped other children realize their dreams since first invited to participate in the project, including providing homes for two families in Brazil. I worked on Paint a Future projects in Florianopolis, Brazil in 2007, Rulle, France in 2007, and a collaborative effort with No Boundaries on Bald Head Island 2008."
Also in the summer of 2011 Toll traveled with 10 UNCW students to Macedonia. The group traveled to historic, artistic and archaeological sites in Skopje, Bitola, Heraclea and Ohrid before taking up residence in the village Sloestica. There, Professor Toll and students worked for two weeks drawing, painting and sculpting.
In May 2012, Toll’s work will be featured in a solo exhibition, Incantations, at Gallery 621, Wilmington, NC. For six weeks in the fall semester 2011 Toll drew daily on the walls of the Cultural Arts Gallery at UNCW. The result was a drawing that sprawled over two expanses fourteen feet by twenty feet and another floating panel ten feet by ten feet. The artist’s process informed by journals accumulated from six different art making journeys to Macedonia engaged the audience for weeks.
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