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College of Arts and Sciences Fine Arts

Awards empower arts prof to pursue research, creativity in India

Io Palmer in the sculpture studioMixed-media sculptor and Washington State University associate professor of fine arts Io Palmer uses her artistic skills to explore complex social issues and her teaching skills to inspire future artists.

Inaugural recipient of the Berry Family Distinguished Professorship in Liberal Arts at WSU, Palmer recently received a Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award and is preparing to deploy her diverse skills in new ways in a new environment. » More …

Viewing the ordinary with new eyes

Drawing by Avantika BawaSporting a Portland Trail Blazers jersey, artist and Washington State University Vancouver associate professor of fine arts Avantika Bawa is talking about her new solo show at the Portland Art Museum.

The show, which opened Aug. 18, includes almost two dozen drawings of the Veterans Memorial Coliseum where the Blazers won their most recent championship … in 1977. The drawings are inspired by Bawa’s fascination — her “obsession,” as she says — with the coliseum. “Some people find it extremely boring, but I chose to take this building and put it on a pedestal and » More …

Fine arts faculty exhibition opens

Image of the gallery in the Schnitzer MuseumSelf•ish, a new installation at the WSU Schnitzer Museum of Art, features the work of three WSU fine arts faculty: Doug Gast, Joe Hedges, and Io Palmer.

Though varied in process and mediums, the artists assembled an exhibition reflecting on a central theme: the formation and depiction of personhood within our multifaceted and progressively digital era.

Using his own self-image, Hedges’ work speaks to fragmented identities through online storage and distortion. The piece includes two » More …

Artist named an Oregon Hallie Ford Fellow

Avantika BawaThe Ford Family Foundation has named Avantika Bawa, associate professor of fine arts, as one of five Oregon Hallie Ford Fellows in the Visual Arts for 2018.

The foundation praised Bawa for her work “at the intersection of geographic, architectural and cultural differences in landscape, influenced by minimalism with an emphasis on reductive form, modularity and experimentation with scale. She is particularly known for her dedication to researching and responding to sites, often through wall drawings, paintings and » More …

Student projects earn Summer Scholars awards

Students working in a labFour student projects mentored by College of Arts and Sciences faculty were selected to receive $3,000 each as part of the 2018 WSU Tri-Cities Chancellor’s Summer Scholars program. The projects span environmental and biological sciences, mechanical and electrical engineering, and fine arts.

The Chancellor’s Summer Scholars Program offers students the opportunity to develop skills to » More …

Arts & humanities faculty awarded 2018 fellowships

green background with WSU shieldSeven College of Arts and Sciences faculty received WSU Arts and Humanities Fellowship awards through a program funded by the Office of Research.

“These grants showcase the range and innovation of creative and humanistic work at WSU,” said Todd Butler, chair of the fellowship review committee. “These faculty are taking on challenging questions and demonstrating the vital contributions the arts and humanities » More …

Creative Vancougs

photo of clouds in a valley by T.RiordanThe Salmon Creek Journal’s Annual Photo Competition, Travel Cafe, features the Vancouver campus community’s best shots from around the world. Submissions for this year’s theme of “Bliss” included images of beautiful landscapes, interesting uses of light and reflection, as well as the joy of human interaction. » More …

New Schnitzer Museum hosts MFA exhibit

Crimson building at WSUSeven fine arts graduate students are among the first to have their work on display in the newly opened Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at WSU.

The Master’s of Fine Arts Exhibition opened in early April and includes pieces some students have been working on for years.

Jared Boorn, whose art is on display, was inspired » More …

Podcast series makes visiting artists accessible any time

Three audio clipsSqueak Meisel, the chair of the Department of Fine Arts and a renowned sculptor, has a confession to make about his podcast series, “Fly on the Wall.”

“I stole this idea from my friend Spencer Moody,” he says. Moody, a punk and noise rock musician and artist late of Seattle and now living in Los Angeles, recorded a series of interviews that inspired Meisel to realize that there is a whole “cohort of people who make different decisions than I do,” and who have a diversity of approaches to life, art, music, the world and its ambiguities. » More …

3D printing: ‘still life’ art exhibit, innovative teaching tools

Guests viewing 'Sculpting in Virtual Space' gallery spaceThe show “Sculpting in Virtual Space: Experiments in Teaching” showcases diverse 3-dimensional prints created by several fine arts students and two faculty members, Hallie Meredith, art historian and clinical assistant professor, and Jamin Kuhn, instructor of fine arts digital media.

New sculptures by WSU fine arts students are mixed with miniature versions of iconic artworks in a free, public exhibit in Gallery 2 through 3:00 p.m. Friday, February 2.

Curated by Meredith and Kuhn, the exhibit features 3D prints of sculptures from antiquity » More …