Visual and Performing Arts News

Category: Art

VPA Faculty Terri Frew Art Exhibition “Creepshow”

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Assistant Teaching Professor Terri Frew recently installed a solo art exhibition titled “Creepshow” at the Overbrook Gallery on the campus of Muskegon Community College. The exhibition will run from September 16 – October 24, 2024 with an artist lecture on October 17 at 4:00EDT.

Through her art, Frew says she is interested in contributing to the contemporary dialogue concerned with breaking down boundaries between art and craft, while the exhibit aims to “confront and challenge antiquated notions of art media hierarchy.”

The art below are two pieces that are included in the show.

There will be a public reception at the gallery October 17 at 5pm and a free plant foraging and ink making workshop on October 18, 9am-12pm (contact Erin Hoffman hoffmane@muskegoncc.edu to reserve your spot).

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Terri Frew Dean’s Teaching Showcase Selection Delivers Distinctive Display of Educational Excellence

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Terry Frew Dean's Potrait
Terri Frew
Assistant Teaching Professor, Visual and Performing Arts

College of Sciences and Arts Dean, Ravindra Pandey, selected Terri Frew for this week’s Dean’s Teaching Showcase. Frew, an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Visual and Performing Arts department, will be recognized at an end-of-term event with other showcase members. Frew is a candidate for the CTL Instructional Award Series.

Course Creativity Includes Community and Collaboration

Professor Frew demonstrates excellent teaching in a wide range of visual arts classes, including large general education courses (Art Appreciation), small studio courses (Drawing, Art + Design Studio, Ceramics, Fiber Arts), and theory courses (Color). Frew commits to nurturing creative exploration, practical hands-on skills, and critical analysis. She experiments with using community engagement to enhance student learning. For example, Frew partnered with the Hancock Community Garden for her Art + Design course. She also enjoys offering students new ways to think about what they are learning.

This semester she is piloting a new course in Fiber Arts. The course pairs creative “making and doing” with critical conversations about the role of hand-made items and craftsmanship, both historically and in today’s society. Jared Anderson, chair of the Visual and Performing Arts department, described Frew’s teaching as “ambitious, inclusive, and collaborative. Within the framework of arts education, she creates opportunities for students to explore varied topics and gain new perspectives. Her commitment to her teaching practices, students, and the university community is to be commended.”

Frew Dean’s Teaching Showcase Winner Displays Creativity and Expression

Professor Frew also serves as the Director of the Rozsa Galleries. She builds partnerships with other departments on campus related to the gallery’s exhibits. Frew fosters a gallery experience that highlights diverse perspectives and appeals to a wide audience. In 2022, she curated Arabesque, an exhibit that partnered international artist Clement Yeh with local artist Tomas Co. Created in close collaboration with the Rozsa Center’s programming, complementing the Rozsa’s fall ballet concert, Arabesque included drawings, sculptures, and video. Her recent curatorial project, Simple Machines, paired the work of Ukrainian Artist Yuliya Musakova and Michigan Tech Humanities professor M. Bartley Seigel. The multimedia exhibit included audio clips of the poets reading their work, a live printing demonstration, and a live performance from the visiting poet Musakova.

“Offering a vibrant arts curriculum that is available to all students is an important way that Michigan Tech sets itself apart as a STEM-focused institution”

“When we give students opportunities to explore creative and expressive practices, we enhance their ability to be truly innovative within their majors and in their future careers. We are fortunate to have outstanding faculty like Professor Frew encouraging Michigan Tech students to engage with the arts both now and throughout the rest of their lives.”

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Midwest Arts XPO Conference Report

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Kier Birondo (Rozsa Marketing Manager) and Hannah Rundman Lowney (Rozsa Audience Manager) recently attended the Midwest Arts XPO in Indianapolis, IN. They served on four panels that tie directly to the mission of Michigan Tech: launching new technologies through innovation.

Traditional Media, Social Media, and AI: Rozsa digital programs were a popular topic of discussion. Many people were interested in connecting with Kier to learn more about the implementation and the performance of digital programs at the Rozsa Center.

Presenting in Rural Communities: A participant told Hannah after the session that the Rozsa Center and the many ways it operates and the things that are happening there was their primary takeaway from the entire conference, confirming the positive and noteworthy reputation of the Rozsa Center.

Ticketing Systems & Data Management: Many session attendees were there specifically to learn about the Pay As You Are Able (PAYA) ticketing initiative at the Rozsa Center.

Making Your Events More Earth Friendly: This session highlighted the sustainability strategic initiatives implemented at the Rozsa Center, resulting in paper and waste reduction and saving Michigan Tech thousands of dollars.

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Layered in Between: Prints by Erin Hoffman Presented by Michigan Tech Art

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Erin Hoffman is an artist and printmaker from Muskegon, Michigan, who deals primarily with political and social concerns. Through the presentation of mismatched ideas and assemblages, her art serves as a prompt for critical thought and new conclusions.

CONTENT GUIDANCE | war
PRESENTER | Michigan Tech Art
VENUE | Rozsa Galleries A-Space
EXHIBIT OPEN | September 15 – November 4
HOURS | M-F 8 A.M.-8 P.M. AND SA 1-8 P.M.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I feel that one experiences and draws conclusions about the world through the assembly of mismatched ideas and sensorial memories. Sometimes the associations of these ideas are seemingly random and other times there are lines that can be drawn between them that may lead to overarching truths or conclusions. I hope my work will lead viewers to new conclusions.

My work uses printed and hand drawn/painted imagery taken from historical references to reflect on current social and political issues.

About

Erin Hoffman has been involved in the art community since early childhood. She was first published at age six in a local Fort Wayne, Indiana newspaper, “The Sentinel” for her visual interpretation of “A Sunny Day.” She is currently a full-time tenured art instructor at Muskegon Community College in Muskegon, Michigan teaching Printmaking, Art Appreciation, Drawing, Painting, Figure Drawing, Contemporary Art History and 2-d design.

She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2001 from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa and received her Master of Fine Arts degree in 2005 at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. Both degrees are in printmaking.

Erin completed work at two artist residencies in 2018, the first being the Skopelos Foundation of the Arts in Skopelos, Greece and the second at Centrum in Port Townsend, Washington. She has exhibited work in group and solo exhibitions all over the US.

Her work mixes relief printmaking techniques with intaglio, lithography and hand-painted material. It uses historical and politically themed imagery to examine aspects of contemporary American society.

Interdisciplinary collaborations. Gallery exhibits. Community projects. There are many ways to experience Michigan Tech Art. Michigan Tech Art is part of the Michigan Tech Visual and Performing Arts Department.

The Rozsa Galleries offer dynamic exhibits that showcase engaging work — from local to international artists. We strive to offer diverse programming that supports our students and our community. Our professional A-Space hosts two curated exhibits each year. A-Space strives for diverse, engaging, and thoughtful programming that supports contemporary artists and deepens our student’s learning. Local, regional, national, and international artists exhibit here. A-Space shares a wall with Gallery B, our student gallery classroom. This offers special opportunities for our students to observe and participate in the galleries year-round.

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Vienna-Prague-Dresden | Led by Lisa Gordillo, Mary Cyr, and Kent Cyr

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Temple of Tyn Prague
Temple of Tyn at Old Town Square in Prague (Courtesy of: Denis Poltoradnev-Unsplash)


Imagination. Creativity. Local and world histories. Art. Theatre. Music. Design. Michigan Tech’s first arts-focused study abroad is an immersive experience. Students from many campus majors are taking part: from Theatre and Sound Design, Humanities, and Chemistry, to Biomedical and Environmental Engineering. The trip focuses on art, theatre, architecture, and culture, with a special emphasis on the Prague Quadrennial, one of the largest theatre design events in the world. Students explore world heritage sites, study works of art in museums and galleries, attend performances, and reflect on local/global history, culture, and connection. The trip is open to all majors and is designed for students whose interests benefit from creativity and new perspectives – in other words, everyone. Follow us on the trip blog and on Instagram.

St. Vitus Cathedral
St. Vitus Cathedral rises above the Vitava River in Prague (Courtesy of: William Zhang-Unsplash)
Prague Astronomical Clock
Prague Astronomical Clock (Courtesy of: Jack Hunter-Unsplash)
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Color and Context collaboration with Professor of Art Anne Beffel

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The Seashore Psychology Training Clinic at the University of Iowa is pleased to announce that they will be continuing collaboration with Professor of Art Anne Beffel on an art installation entitled Color and Context. This extension of Beffel’s Color of Kindness project, currently exhibited in the Seashore Clinic, will engage graduate students as well as clinical faculty and staff.

Participants will be invited to recall a moment in which kindness, or its absence, was important to them and to describe colors present within their memory. In the updated project, Beffel will collect only the name of the color and its brief description through online survey. As Beffel creates a painting for each person’s named color, she will integrate its complement, located 180 degrees opposite on the Newtonian color wheel. The introduction of the complementary color is intended to embody both contrast and connection. Beffel notes, “Gullickson, and former training director Michael O’Hara, have been excellent collaborators and art stewards, extending themselves in countless ways. I’m particularly grateful for the opportunity to directly engage the clinic faculty, staff and students in articulating the colors that matter to them as we reflect upon the dynamic and evolving culture surrounding color in America.”

“We are thrilled at our continuing collaboration with Anne Beffel,” writes Seashore Clinic director Gregory Gullickson. “Anne has really brought such color and life to our clinic, and having students and staff inspire more of her work will add immeasurably to the beauty and healing spirit of our clinic space.”

Installation of Color and Context is planned for summer 2023 with support from Beffel’s academic department of Visual and Performing Arts at Michigan Technological University.

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‘Thick as Thieves’ Student Artist Reception Tonight!

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Join Michigan Tech Art tonight (Dec. 2) in the Rozsa Art Galleries from 5-7 p.m. for a student artist reception for “Thick as Thieves.” This end-of-semester showcase features works of art by students in sculpture and design classes. The showcase features the artwork of students from diverse majors including mechanical engineering, applied ecology, biomedical engineering, theatre entertainment and technology, cybersecurity and physics!

Featured artists include:

Gibryn Arney | Lily Atton-Doornbos | Mykaela Cayemberg | Jack Colwell | Nikki Donley | Tara Estrada | Ferran Delgado Garcia | Faith D. Gaertner | Abby Jurewicz | Cas Mankowski | John Mazur | Riley Nelson | Seth M. Olson | Audrey Schulte | Casey Smith | Josie M. Stalmack | Madalyn R. Tudor-Duncan | Frida A. Visser

The event is coordinated by Rozsa Art Gallery Director Terry Frew and Associate Chair of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts Lisa Gordillo.

What to Expect:

Enjoy refreshments. Meet the student artists in a relaxed environment. See fantastic, student-made art.

Details:

Who: The studio talk is free and open to the public, faculty, staff and students.
When: Friday, Dec. 2, from 5-7 p.m.
Where: Rozsa Art Galleries (located on the lower level of the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts)
Can’t make it tonight? Come see the exhibit today (Dec. 2) through Tuesday (Dec. 6) in the Rozsa Art Galleries.

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‘Arabesque: The Art of Clement Yeh and Tomas Co’ Opens Friday

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The Rozsa Galleries open their fall exhibit, “Arabesque: The Art of Clement Yeh and Tomas Co,” this Friday, September 23. Focused on dance and movement, “Arabesque” brings the works of Canadian artist Clement Yeh and local artist and Michigan Tech Professor Emeritus Tomas Co.

Yeh’s piece, “Movement in Time and Space,” is an immersive drawing environment stretching 56 feet long and six feet tall. A member of the Visual Arts faculty at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, Canada, Yeh’s practice focuses on drawing, sculpture and drafting. He is a passionate advocate for the supporting the role that art plays in personal growth, confronting social issues and uplifting the quality of life in society.

Co is a contemporary local artist whose work began as watercolor and sumi-e ink paintings and later expanded into sculptural and digital art. Although his primary career was as a chemical engineering professor at Michigan Tech, Co has kept an active parallel artistic endeavor. His work has appeared in local solo exhibits and a few juried shows nationally. His artistic motivation is to satisfy a need for personal expression and a need to make sense of the confusing, exciting, yet sometimes depressing current events and human conditions. His metal sculptures, featured in “Arabesque,” are symbolic representations of the fluidity of dance.

Inspired by ballet and dance, you can meet Yeh and Co during an artist reception that will precede the October 28 performance of American Ballet Theatre at the Rozsa Center. Plan to enjoy refreshments, meet the artists in a relaxed environment and learn about how they go from inspiration to the final pieces you see.

Details:

  • Exhibit: “Arabesque: The Art of Clement Yeh and Tomas Co”
  • Dates: Friday, Sept. 23, through Friday, Nov. 4
  • Location: Rozsa Galleries A-Space, lower level of the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts
  • Artist Reception: 5-7 p.m. Friday, Oct 28, in the Rozsa Galleries

This program/lecture is partially funded/sponsored by the Visiting Professor Program, which is funded by a grant to the Office of the Provost from the state of Michigan’s King-Chávez-Parks Initiative.

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VPA Welcomes Terri Frew as Art Faculty

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Visual and Performing Arts welcomes Terri Jo Frew as an Assistant Teaching Professor of Art.

Terri is a practicing contemporary artist and professor. Originally from Canada, she holds a Master of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in Fiber Arts from Concordia University (Montréal), and exhibits her art internationally. Always working conceptually, her favorite methods of expression include (but aren’t limited to) embroidery and drawing.

Assistant Teaching Professor
Terri Frew

Through her art, Terri is interested in contributing to the contemporary dialogue concerned with breaking down boundaries between art and craft. By utilizing materials and processes from Fiber Arts (textiles) and Illustration- media commonly considered to be from the realm of craft- in concert with conceptual content, she hopes to confront and challenge antiquated notions of art media hierarchy.

We are thrilled to welcome Terri Frew as full-time art faculty and our new gallery director. Terri is an exceptional teacher and a dedicated artist. Her drawings, paintings, and embroideries are dynamic and thought-provoking. She brings a fresh new perspective to our program.

Lisa Gordillo, VPA Associate Professor

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Denali: Artists Respond to Music Inspired by Wilderness

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by Bethany Jones, Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts

2017 Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival’s Composing in the Wilderness Program composers.

The Department of Visual and Performing Arts and the Rozsa Center are pleased to announce “Denali: Artists Respond to Music Inspired by Wilderness,” an exciting collaboration culminating in both a Rozsa Gallery A-Space exhibit and a virtual event

The project features composers and artists, their music, and the art inspired by it. “Denali: Artists Respond to Music Inspired by Wilderness,” exists in the confluence of two languages — music and visual art.

It features eighteen works of art made in response to original chamber music inspired by composers’ experiences in Denali National Park, in central Alaska. The in-person gallery experience opens in the Rozsa Gallery A-Space on Friday (Jan. 22), and both the live and virtual events will be available through Saturday, April 17.

Gallery hours are:

  • M-F: 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. 1:00 – 8:00 PM
  • Saturdays: 1 – 8 p.m.

The Denali virtual event can be streamed anytime from Jan. 22 to April 17 by visiting the Rozsa website.

QR codes, posted with each work of art throughout the gallery exhibit, provide links to the related pieces of music by scanning with a QR code reader on a smartphone.

Musical scores, program notes, artist statements, and biographies of all project participants will be available both inside the gallery exhibit and digitally as part of the virtual experience.

According to project leaders Terri Frew (VPA) and Libby Meyer, (VPA), “What do you get when you set nine composers loose in Denali National Park? You get nine great pieces of music. Give this music to artists as inspiration and you get eighteen great pieces of art!”

In conjunction with the A-Space Gallery exhibit, participants of Composing in the Wilderness, a shared wilderness experience for adventurous composers and members of the Elements Artist Group, will discuss the collaboration, share performances of the music and images of artwork in virtual music and art experience, featuring a series of videos with each composer, their music and artwork related to each piece of original music.

The Elements Artist Group comprises six artists anchored in Alaska including Charlotte Bird, Susan Campbell, Nancy Hausle-Johnson, Mary Bee Kaufman, Margo Klass and Ree Nancarrow.

The nine composers from the 2017 Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival’s Composing in the Wilderness Program include Jesse Budel, Christian Dubeau, Corinna Hogan, Aaron Keyt, Brent Lawrence, Libby Meyer, Christina Rusnak, Dawn Sonntag and Jennifer Wright.

The idea for the project was originally sparked by a painting Elements artist Mary Bee Kaufman rendered while listening to music written by Christina Rusnak in 2012. Their successful collaboration resonated with other Elements artists who were eager to explore a new challenge – making visual art in response to music inspired by a place they all love, Denali National Park.

Stephen Lias, Composing in the Wilderness director, shared the proposal with his Composing in the Wilderness musicians and they enthusiastically said, “Yes.”

In 2017, Lias led nine experienced composers into the backcountry of Denali National Park. They composed original chamber music inspired by their experiences in the wilderness and then shared recordings of their compositions, along with their scores, ideas, and inspiration with the Elements artists. Elements artists created visual responses to the music, generating eighteen works of art – two responses to each of the nine musical compositions. Artists worked in a variety of media including fiber art, ceramic tiles, painting, poetry, and artist books. Denali: Artists Respond to Music Inspired by Wilderness is evidence of the surprising results that emerge when artists collaborate.

The generous support of a Community Arts Development Grant from the Alaska State Council on the Arts helped fund the project along with sponsorship by the National Park Service, Alaska Geographic, Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, and Composers in the Wilderness.

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