Fine Art in the News

To Remedy acrylic on canvas, 10 x 8 inches

Professor's Work Rises to the Top
February 2012 -- Two paintings from Jordan Acker Anderson, assistant professor of fine arts at Mount Mary College, have been included in the recently published Studio Visit, volume 15. More than 1,000 artists submitted work for review and just 309 were selected for inclusion. Juror Ian Berry, curator at The Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, spent a week reviewing the submissions.

Studio Visit is distributed to 2,000 of the nation's top galleries and curators. Previously featured artists say the publication has generated more interest in their art, as well as inclusion in shows. One of Jordan's selected paintings is featured at right. View the paintings as see in Studio Visit.

Fine Art + Science = Rich Learning Environment
February 2012 -- The Fine Art and Biology Departments have once again teamed up in a collaborative publishing project. Students in the Art Department worked under the direction of assistant professor in Fine Arts, Jordan Acker Anderson, to visually portray science for an upcoming article written by assistant professor in Biology, Dr. Lynn Diener as part of an ongoing cross-disciplinary effort.

Examples of the student work submitted for the project can be viewed in the slideshow at right. See the slides in full view and learn more about the artwork and the artists here.

African-American Artists celebrated
Fall 2011 -- Assistant Professor of Art, Brad Bernard celebrated African-American artists in Wisconsin with an exhibit at the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend in fall of 2011 and was featured by his alma mater, MIAD, regarding his work in the art community.

Veteran's Day Exhibit
November 2011 -- Art faculty member, Paul Calhoun, exhibited at the Madison Municipal Building in Madison on Veteran’s Day, 2011. “After The Wars – Stories and Images of America’s Combat Veterans," a multimedia documentary exhibition of American war veterans, created by Paul and his son, Ben Calhoun, through a partnership of the Wisconsin Humanities Council and Chicago Public Media. The exhibit told the stories of ten war veterans from across the Midwest from WWII to today. The work was featured by WBEZ, the public radio affiliate in Chicago, the Invisible Institute in Chicago, and by the Third Coast Audio Festival

July 2011 -- Art Department instructor, Paul Calhoun, and his son, Ben, exhibited their work at The Experimental Station in Chicago in July, 2011. The exhibit entitled, "After the Wars: Stories and Images of America's Veterans," featured audio and photographic works by the Calhoun men.

Chernobyl Disaster Commemorated
August 2011 -- Art faculty member, Paul Calhoun, commemorates the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. Paul Calhoun, instructor of photography in the Fine Arts Department at Mount Mary College, spent the month of August photographing for three international organizations involved with the ongoing aftermath of the nuclear disaster: The International Children's Heart Foundation, Chernobyl's Children International, and the Friends of Chernobyl Centers USA. While in Ukraine, Mr. Calhoun photographed survivors of the disaster, children orphaned as a result of the disaster, and volunteer surgeons and medical personnel addressing the cardiac needs of young people and infants. Samples of the work are posted below.

Also in August of 2011, Mr. Calhoun received the last grant awarded by the Wisconsin Arts Board before it was absorbed into the Wisconsin Board of Tourism as a result of state budget cuts.

Cross-Disciplinary Efforts
February 2009 -- Assistant faculty members, Jordan Acker Anderson, Fine Arts, and Lynn Diener, Sciences, began a cross-disciplinary collaboration to bridge the subject of science with studio work created by art majors. The objective of the ongoing collaboration is to engage art students in a visual dialogue about science, increasing their interest in an outside field by entering scientific information through a visual perspective.

The work was published in the Journal of Chemical Education, Vol. 86 No. 2 February 2009, as two separate articles penned by Acker Anderson and Diener: "News from Online: Statospheric Chemistry" and "A Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration." Original artwork by ten Mount Mary students was published through the articles, on the cover and alongside related features.

This collaborative effort is ongoing.