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Master of Fine Arts show at Museum of Art

Thesis exhibition

Encounters with creativity await visitors to the Washington State University Museum of Art’s annual Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, April 5-May 4. An opening reception will be at 6 p.m. Friday, April 5, in the museum gallery. Museum admission is always free.

The display of work by MFA graduate candidates was organized by Keith Wells, the late Museum of Art curator.

“This exhibition provides a wide range of styles for faculty, students and local museum constituents,” Wells said. “The world class faculty at WSU encourage the MFA candidates to become more confident and articulate in their convictions. The museum presents this year’s graduate thesis work in hopes that undergraduate students, first year graduate students and anyone willing to be moved by art will find it a fun and stimulating experience.”

Read more about the thesis exhibit at WSU News >>

Art and Nuclear Technology

Columbia River Near Hanford, Late Afternoon
Columbia River Near Hanford, Late Afternoon painting by Dianne Dickeman

“Particles on the Wall,” a multidisciplinary art exhibit examining how nuclear technology has affected humanity, opened today at the Washington State University Tri-Cities Art Center.

It interweaves visual art, poems and science with history and memorabilia to address issues of radioactive contamination, nuclear weapons and technology in Washington State — and the role of nuclear technology in southeastern Washington’s desert landscape.

“As a curator invested in local culture and education, I am particularly interested in the varied narratives and diverse depictions of the history of Hanford and the Columbia River nuclear era,” said Peter Christenson, assistant professor of fine arts and Art Center curator. “‘Particles on the Wall’ is truly an interdisciplinary approach to community-based education and is an impressive example of inspired artistic expression.”

Uniquely, it is a growing exhibit: it is different each time it is displayed. For the WSU Tri-Cities show, it includes nearly 50 pieces of art.

The WSU Tri-Cities Art Center is located inside the Consolidated Information Center at 2770 Crimson Way, Richland. Admission is free. Center hours are noon-6 p.m. Monday-Thursday. The exhibit ends April 4.

Learn more at particlesonthewall.org >>

Showcase Teaching Awards

Pamela Lee and Judy Meuth, both clinical associate professors in the College of Arts and Sciences, are the inaugural recipients of the annual President’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Nontenure Track Faculty at Washington State University.

Pamela Lee
Pamela Lee

The new award will be among those presented at the Celebrating Excellence Recognition Banquet on March 29, part of the WSU Showcase annual celebration of faculty, staff and student achievement.

Lee, a WSU alumna in the Department of Fine Arts and the Honors College whose art is featured inexhibits and collections nationwide, says she is passionate about the “art and craft” of teaching and extends herself to keep her teaching contemporary and engaging for students.

Judy Mueth image
Judy Mueth

Meuth teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies, including the popular Women’s Studies 220 (Gender, Culture and Science) since 2003. She leads workshops and mentors interns, McNair scholars and honors students on their thesis projects.

Read more at WSU News >>

Gift of Helm works provides insight into creative process

By Debby Stinson, Museum of Art

The Washington State University Museum of Art has received an $82,000 gift of work by late Northwest artist Robert Helm (M.F.A. ’69). The donation, by Robert and Shaké Sarkis, consists of 82 works on paper created 1975–99.

The Sarkises have amassed what is arguably the most comprehensive collection of Northwest and West Coast art. Robert Sarkis and WSU Museum of Art director Chris Bruce have known each other for more than 30 years. In addition to this gift, the couple previously donated other works by Helm to the WSU permanent collection.

“We are thrilled to add this amazing portfolio of drawings by former WSU fine arts faculty member Robert Helm to the Museum of Art and thank Robert and Shaké Sarkis for their generous gift,” said Jill Aesoph, director of development for the museum. “It is through such gifts that we have been able to build a permanent collection with more than 2,500 distinctive works of art, which will be part of the WSU experience for years to come.”  Continue story →

Two faculty and two alumni win state arts grants

Two Washington State University faculty and two alumni are among 62 recipients, out of 603 applicants, of 2012 Grants for Artist Projects (GAP) of up to $1,500 from Artist Trust, a Washington state nonprofit arts organization.

The faculty awardees are Kevin Haas, professor of fine arts, and Christopher Arigo, assistant professor of English. Alumni winners are Lauren Greathouse (B.F.A. ’03; B.A. ’03, English) and Dane Youngren (B.F.A. ’11).

The goal of the funding is a repeated and consistent investment to support and encourage individual artists’ projects in all disciplines in order to enrich community life throughout Washington. » More …