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Pursuing her most authentic self

WSU grad student gives insight into her experience as an artist and teacher

June Sanders discovered a passion for art while attending Western Washington University—a fair leap from advertising, her intended major.

June Sanders
Sanders

Sanders, now a first-year Master of Fine Arts student at Washington State University, said it was her friends in undergrad who introduced her to what it’s like to be an artist.

“I was just so blessed in befriending, right when I came to college, all these wonderful, artistic people,” she said, “that just got to expose me to a lot and mold me in these ways, even if they didn’t realize they were doing it and if I didn’t realize.”

In the WSU MFA program, Sanders’ main focus is photography, but she said all MFA students are encouraged to experiment with other media while in the program. Through this experimentation, the students may end up leaving with a different emphasis than they originally came to the program with.

Sanders currently teaches Fine Arts 102, » More …

Podcast series makes visiting artists accessible any time

Squeak Meisel
Meisel

Squeak Meisel, the chair of the Fine Arts department 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, 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.

“I thought, this is what I get from the visiting artists” the Fine Arts department invites to campus. “I get to expose students to all these different choices and lifestyles,” to all the experiences and decisions that go into becoming an artist. » More …

Jan. 12-Feb. 8: Emotionally powerful exhibit focuses on child loss

Susana ButterworthThe emotionally powerful, poignant “Empty Photo Project,” created by Washington State University Tri-Cities student Susana Butterworth, that details the tragic and emotional experience of what it is like to lose a child, will be on display from Jan. 12-Feb. 8 in the WSU Tri-Cities Art Gallery.

The exhibition, which Butterworth began in a fine arts course at WSU Tri-Cities after losing her own son in utero, tells the story of 25 parents who have lost a child, and the physical and emotional impact it has had on their lives and their relationships with family, friends and even strangers. In addition to the written stories of each parent featured, each features a photo of the parent taken by Butterworth, which represents both the physical and mental hole left in the parents’ lives after the child’s passing.

 

An opening reception for the exhibition will be held 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 12, in the WSU Tri-Cities Art Gallery.

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WSU News

Tri-City Herald

WSU Tri-Cities program allows scholars to live, work—bring inspiration

Laurel Terlesky, a celebrated artist who’s spent years exploring touch and memory, is the first participant in the new Guest House Cultural Capital Residency through Washington State University Tri-Cities.

Peter Christenson
Christenson

“We hope this will culminate in some fruitful projects,” said Peter Christenson, an assistant professor of fine arts and the residency program’s director.

The program invites creative scholars in varying fields to live and work in Richland for short periods of time, from one week to one month. They conduct research that’s inspired by the area or that seeks to build culture and community in the region, and they make connections with students and community members along the way.

It’s an opportunity for the scholars to work and research in a new setting, and for the community to get an infusion of new ideas and inspiration, Christenson said.

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Tri-City Herald

Pullman Arts Commission to seek funds to build WSU-designed bus stop

During its regular meeting Tuesday, the Pullman City Council authorized—via head-nods—the Pullman Arts Commission to move forward with fundraising for a new bus stop designed in part by members of the WSU Department of Fine Arts.

The bus stop is to be built in front of Safeway grocery store and designed by the WSU Collaborative, a team of WSU art, architecture, design and engineering students and professor Ayad Rahmani.

In April, the commission chose the “Magnificent M” as its favorite design out of four presented by WSU Collaborative.

Now called Rolling Hills, the modified design shows previously sharp points of the “M” have been softened to mimic the hilly Palouse landscape. The design has also been modified to incorporate bike parking and add an anti-graffiti clear coat for wood and metal parts of the structure.

The project was originally estimated to cost $2,500. With the modifications, that estimation jumped to $5,000.

WSU is donating its time and manufacturing resources, the commission’s interim chair, Joanna Bailey, told the council. Crowd-sourced fundraising may also be utilized.

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