The University of Toledo

The University of Toledo will host a series of events exploring the role of “Light & Mass” in works of art. There will be a series of lectures and a faculty exhibit.

The faculty exhibit will run through Sunday, Oct. 4, in the Center for the Visual Arts Gallery on the UT Toledo Museum of Art Campus.

The opening reception for the exhibit will be held Friday, Sept. 4, from 6 to 9 p.m.

At dusk during the opening, Tom Lingeman, UT professor of art, and company will produce “Cast Light and the Wheel ‘O Fire,” a Styrofoam displacement casting directly over steel framework. The casting process will take place inside the courtyard of the Center for the Visual Arts and generate metallic form in direct contact with light and fire.

UT faculty represented in the exhibit are Diana Attie, Dustyn Bork, Christopher Burnett, Seder Burns, Debra Davis, Brent Dedas, Rex Fogt, Lingeman, Barbara F. Miner, Deborah Orloff, Karen Roderick-Lingeman and Arturo Rodriguez.

The lectures will be held on Wednesdays from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Center for the Visual Arts Haigh Auditorium. Listed by date, they are:

• Sept. 2 — Brent Dedas, UT visiting assistant professor of drawing, who will discuss “Light and Mass in the Creative Process: From the Studio to the Classroom.” This talk will open the series by looking at issues of light and mass from both the professional and pedagogical perspectives. Dedas will use his work and that of students to further the discussion regarding light and mass in contemporary art.

• Sept. 16 — Dr. Lawrence Anderson-Huang, UT professor of astronomy and director of the Ritter Planetarium, will address “The ‘Weightiness’ of Light.” He will cover theories of light from ancient times to present, considering spiritual, particle and wave concepts leading to understanding the “weightiness” or “volume” of light-filled spaces. These observations will be used to illuminate qualities of light that appear in works of art.

• Sept. 30 — Art History Program students Melissa Kempke and Eric Sobel, in consultation with Mysoon Rizk, UT associate professor of art history, will each give a talk. Kempke will present on “Projecting Expression: The Art and Times of William Kentridge.” She will discuss the innovative South African artist, describe his cinematic techniques for projecting drawings in time, and explore the connections between his art and politics, including the history of South African apartheid. Sobel will discuss “Art in the Dark: Shedding New Light on ‘Blackness.’” He will discuss how African-American artist David Hammons manipulated light and mass — or lack thereof — and recalled the theatrics of French artist Yves Klein, addressing racism in the process, along with museum practices and assumptions about black artists. He will explain how an exploration of complete darkness and blue light, Concerto in Black and Blue (2002), among other Hammons’ works, undercuts many African-American stereotypes while exposing the multifaceted nature of “blackness.”

For more information on the free, public exhibit and lectures, contact the UT Art Department at 419.530.8300 or go to www.utoledo.edu/as/art.

This entry was posted  on  Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at  5:59 am and is filed under  Arts, UToday.
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