Art and Art History Department

The work of Keiji Shinohara, artist-in-residence of art, artist-in-residence of East Asian studies, will be exhibited at a gallery in Plantsville, Conn., Oct. 4-31. The exhibition at Paris in Plantsville Gallery, titled, "Whispers of the Infinite: The Art of Keiji Shinohara," represents the first time that Shinohara's monotypes will have been exhibited in the United States. An opening reception will be held Oct. 4 from 6-9 p.m. Born and raised in Osaka, Japan, Shinohara trained for 10 years as an apprentice under the renowned artist Keiichiro Uesugi, and became a Master Printmaker. Shinohara then moved to the U.S., and has…

John Frazer, professor of art, emeritus, died July 7 at the age of 82. "Generations of Wesleyan students knew John as a gifted teacher of students at all levels of artistic ability," said Ruth Striegel Weissman, provost and vice president for academic affairs. Throughout his career on the Wesleyan faculty, from 1959 to 2001, Frazer introduced hundreds of Wesleyan students to the art of drawing, painting and film. He taught the first filmmaking courses at Wesleyan and continued this teaching until the Film Program, which he helped found, became independent of the Art Department. His influence lives on through his endowment…

Associate Professor of Art and Art History Katherine Kuenzli has won a prestigious American Council of Learned Societies fellowship for next year. The award will support her work on Henry van de Velde, a European artist whose aesthetic helped shape modernism. The fellowship – one of 65 awarded this year to scholars in the humanities and humanistic social sciences – provides salary replacement for faculty who are embarking on six to 12 months of full-time research and writing. “I am thrilled to have the support for and acknowledgement of my work,” Kuenzli said. “I began (the project) in 2009 and…

Professor Phillip Wagoner is the co-author of Power, Memory, Architecture: Contested Sites on India’s Deccan Plateau, 1300-1600, published by Oxford University Press in March 2014. Wagoner is chair and professor of archaeology, professor of art history. Focusing on India’s Deccan Plateau, this book explores how power and memory combined to produce the region’s built landscape, as seen above all in its monumental architecture. During the turbulent 16th century, fortified frontier strongholds like Kalyana, Warangal, or Raichur were repeatedly contested by primary centers—namely, great capital cities such as Bijapur, Vijayanagara or Golconda. Examining the political histories and material culture of both…

The seniors in the Department of Art and Art History's art studio program are presenting their work in the Senior Thesis Exhibitions through April 13. The art is displayed in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery. Students presenting work include Carlos Sanchez, Emily Bernstein, Can “Claire” Zhou, Alex Ginsberg, Will Wiebe, Emily Roff, Allison Greenwald, Evita Rodriguez, Rebecca Schisler, Katie Deane, Oliver Citrin, Hannah Knudsen, Pik-Tone Fung, Jessie Loo, Julia Drachman, Nathaniel Elmer and Isaac Madwed. Each student selects a single work from his or her Senior Thesis Exhibition for the end of the year showcase, which is curated by Tula…

A book written by Joe Siry was named a finalist for the 2013 National Jewish Book Award in the visual arts category. Siry is professor of art history, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of the Humanities and chair of the Art and Art History Department. The Jewish Book Council announced the winners of the 63rd Annual National Jewish Book Awards on Jan. 15. Beth Sholom Synagogue: Frank Lloyd Wright and Modern Religious Architecture was published by the University of Chicago Press in 2011. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 2007, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Beth Sholom Synagogue was one of Wright’s last…

Students enrolled in ARST 131, Drawing I, practiced drawing-to-scale on April 30. Their instructor is Kate TenEyck, visiting assistant professor of art and art studio technician. (more…)

David Schorr, professor of art, and director of the Art Studio Program for the Art and Art History Department, will have artwork on exhibition at the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Mass. The exhibit, Secrets, Loss, Memory and Courage: Works by Male Gay Artists, will be on display April 27-July 31. The show honors gay rights activist, author and poet Paul Monette (1945-1995), who received an honorary degree from Wesleyan in 1993. Schorr and Monette collaborated on three books.

View the talents of the seniors in the Art Studio Program of Wesleyan’s Department of Art and Art History. “Senior Thesis Exhibitions 2013” runs March 26-April 21 in the Zilkha Gallery. The show, features drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, mixed media and architecture. “We’re all so proud of our senior majors. The four weeks of rotating Senior Thesis Exhibitions are a wonderful opportunity for the broader Wesleyan community to experience their remarkable work,” said Tula Telfair, professor of art. Allison Kalt, Tiffany Unno, Ilyana Schwartz, Anna Shimshak and Christina You will display their artwork from March 26-31. Piers Gelly, Zoe Albert,…

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Assistant Professor of Art Sasha Rudensky recently was a guest on WNPR’s “Faith Middleton Show,” where she discussed the work of the late photographer Diane Arbus. Though Arbus is remembered for choosing “freaks” as her subjects, Rudensky says of that term: ”I certainly don’t think it does justice to the great variety of subjects that she was interested in. I think, more than anything, she was deeply interested in people, and they happen to be very different kinds of people… Undoubtedly, she was more focused on those people that were largely unseen in society. But at the same time, I think she was as…

Nadja Aksamija, associate professor of art history, is spending her 2012-13 year abroad in Florence, Italy as a Robert Lehman Fellow at the Villa I Tatti, the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. She is one of 15 scholars to receive the fellowship. I Tatti Fellows are selected by an international and interdisciplinary committee that welcomes applications from Italian Renaissance scholars from all nations. While abroad, Aksamija is researching the Bolognese villa in the age of Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti. "My project investigates the Bolognese villa culture at the end of the 16th century, a period marked by Catholic reform…

Shinohara’s Monotypes to be Exhibited at Plantsville Gallery

Professor of Art John Frazer Remembered for Teaching, Painting, Films

Kuenzli to Research European Artist through Learned Societies Fellowship

Wagoner’s Book Explores Built Landscape of India’s Deccan Plateau

Art Studio Seniors Showcase Work at Thesis Exhibitions

Siry’s Frank Lloyd Wright Book Named Finalist for Visual Arts Award

Students Practice Drawing-to-Scale at the CFA

Schorr’s Artwork to be Exhibited at Addison Gallery

Art Studio Majors Display Artwork at Senior Thesis Exhibition

Exhibit Celebrates Underrepresented Student Artists

Rudensky Speaks on Photographer Diane Arbus on Faith Middleton Show

Art History’s Aksamija Awarded I Tatti Fellowship