Andrea Price and her artwork, “Not My Art History,” 2019.

The UToledo Department of Art is proud to feature our alumni who are supporting inclusion and diversity in their careers and artistic activities.

Artist Andrea Price, BFA ’19, resists an accepted Eurocentric perspective of art and beauty that represents people of color in positions of oppression. In her opinion, historical images of slaves that are considered beautiful are nothing more than the representations of black people created by those who colonized and enslaved them. Seeing these images in an art history class awakened a passion in Price to contribute to a new vision. “My heart literally broke, and I got angry because,” she asked, “why is the esteem that we hold in art attached to European views of what art should look like? That really began my journey to decolonize, to think … how can we create art that involves everyone; where I see myself in a piece of art; where other people of color can see themselves and know that they’re beautiful; and it’s not through the perspective of our white comforts?” Price told SHELOVES Magazine.

“Get You Some Sensitivity, Thanks” 2019, Andrea Price

Price creates art that denies those representations and introduces a different perspective that celebrates artistic diversity. Using drawing, painting, printmaking, photography and fiber art, Price weaves a new image of the African American experience through these media, focusing her work on social justice in relationship to people of color.

SHELOVES Magazine’s interview with Price features her art piece, “Not My Art History,” a powerful fiber-based work that reimagines history’s views of black art and black beauty.

“I hope that you can search your heart and see this piece and think: Huh, is art history really completely Eurocentric? Is what I’ve been taught from a very young age very Eurocentric, and why is that? Why are we not talking about all of the indigenous cultures that create beautiful things that we like to label as savage, as lesser-than, but not understanding the level of intelligence it takes to create something because they’re doing it with meaning?” Price says.

“Rug of Equality,” hand crocheted 4’m 2020, Andrea Price

Price advocates for the recognition of black artists, such as one of her favorite artists, Carrie Mae Weems. “Even throughout my whole educational experience, I think one thing that gets brought up so often is Kehinde Wiley. And I love Kehinde Wiley, but he is not the only person of color that is creating art about people of color,” Price told SHELOVES Magazine. She says that it’s necessary to backtrack through decades of the works of other artists and cultures that are “equally beautiful.” She says the writers of our history books are not telling the full story.

SHELOVES Magazine video interview.

Instagram: @andreaandherart

The UToledo Department of Art is proud to feature our alumni who are supporting inclusion and diversity in their careers and artistic activities.

Alicia Disantis, BA ’08, combines a set of artistic and entrepreneurial skills that have led her to establish a successful design and marketing firm, 38th & Kip, in Denver, Colorado. She also serves as brand manager at Aux in Lakewood, Colorado, where she develops and executes brand strategies that drive company recognition and profitability.

Her writing, graphic design and marketing expertise come together in marketing campaigns that include website design, print collateral, videos and trade show materials. Disantis’ own company provides creative pieces in various industries that include professional services, manufacturing, non-profit, technology and more. In the non-profit sector, Disantis has volunteered pro bono design services, including developing a targeted infographic for the Feline Foundation of Greater Washington, an animal welfare organization.

She founded 38th & Kip in 2010 with a mission to provide “exceptional, fairly priced marketing and design services to improve people’s lives.” Disantis’ business philosophy aligns with living in a just world, where fairness and equality are the norm, and the injustices of racism and bigotry are not tolerated. She says on the 38th & Kip website that her company is “committed to a better tomorrow.”

Disantis, who earned her bachelor’s degree in Studio Art, New Media, at UToledo, said about her professor, Deb Davis, “You know, I think of your classes often. You were challenging but your principles and passion for art stuck with me.” Alicia also earned a master’s degree in Arts, Entertainment and Media Management at Columbia College in Chicago. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from both colleges. She notes that she is inspired by retro design, Scandinavian minimalism, street art and bold colors. As an avid backpacker, she has traveled through many countries, stopping to visit as many museums as possible.

Product Promo Illustration Client: CU Service Network

Illustrations and type are hand-drawn, then scanned and colored.

Create concept and illustrations for product ads and a series of educational events that focus on specific services.

Aux Rebrand Client: CU Service Network

All rights 38th and Kip.

The UToledo Department of Art is proud to feature our alumni who are supporting inclusion and diversity in their careers and artistic activities.

Caroline Jardine, BFA ’17, BA Education ’16, identifies with art on a variety of levels — her personal artwork, the community-driven, public mural projects she leads and the creative expressions of her young students.

As a teenager, Jardine was introduced to place-making while she apprenticed for the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo. Through her passion for community-based art, Jardine became further engaged with local residents and arts practitioners, creating and leading mural projects, installations and other collaborative projects for organizations, businesses, schools and community events.

Caroline Jardine working on a mural in downtown Toledo with muralist Maya Hayuk.

Her 2020 work includes a collaboration with fellow muralist Maya Hayuk, whom Jardine assisted on a mural highlighting the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “Maya Hayuk has been my favorite muralist for years, so this was so meaningful to

me to be able to not just meet her, but work with her,” says Jardine. The year also saw Jardine working on a project for local business owners of the Stubborn Brother pizza restaurant, a project in which she hand-lettered all of the text.

Two additional Toledo projects from 2020 include a board-up mural at 1105 and 1109 N. Huron, and an interactive spray chalk mural on the grounds of the Toledo Museum of Art. Caroline was also the lead designer for the first Community Collaborative artwork for the Arts Commission Momentum ’20. The “art-by-number” pieces that were broken into smaller 6″ X 6″ squares completed by the community and placed within a larger installation on Adams Street.

Images: Caroline Jardine

Jardine, who teaches 6- 12th-grade art at St. Ursula Academy, blends Ukrainian symbolism into her personal, mixed media artworks to represent themes of identity, connection and history. “When working on personal artwork, I allow my own voice to guide the process,” says Jardine.

Voice is a significant distinction between her personal and public artworks, she says. “I believe that when leading a community mural, the mural must be informed by the members of the community; my voice should not be the loudest in the room. In creative place-making, community members lead the direction of the artwork. My role is to listen, ask questions, and facilitate the creation of an artwork that is representative and reflective of the voices of the community.”

BCAN video features the community mural work of artist/educator/muralist, Caroline Jardine.

The UToledo Department of Art is proud to feature our alumni who are supporting inclusion and diversity in their careers and artistic activities.

Jym Shipman is currently the Member Experience Coordinator for the Sylvania YMAC/JCC at YMCA of Greater Toledo.  Jym Shipman, BFA ’04, reaches thousands of readers every week all over the world with his LGBTQ comic strip, “Diamond in the Rough.” Shipman launched the comic strip on his birthday, May 25, 2013, intending to expand the audience for stories about LGBTQ people. “My goal was to produce an LGBTQ comic strip that was family friendly,” says Shipman. When he decided to share his storylines, most LGBTQ comic strips focused on adults and many were sexualized.

“I want my readers to leave my strip with the ‘warm fuzzies,’ he says. “Even though many of my storylines are serious, I try to spin them in a way that uplifts the readers. It’s what I look for and read in the strips I follow.”

Two fellow cartoonists, Bart deGraaf and Tom Batiuk, offered Shipman support and nudged him to put his art out there for the world to see. He took their advice. While “Diamond in the Rough” began on Facebook, it now is published on Webtoon, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, Flickr, Reddit, Boredpanda, Tapas, Ello, and Tagpacker.

In the past, Shipman’s strip appeared in print, but most of the traditional print publications are either obsolete or transitioned to online only. “Universal Click and Comics Kingdom are the two all-in-one big players of the day,” says Shipman about current sites featuring LGBTQ comic strips. “It brings me joy knowing that the voices in my head that brought me comfort as a gay child and now as an adult are being viewed in physical form via “Diamond in the Rough” — not just locally or in the United States, but all over the world.”

Creating “Diamond in the Rough” helps heal the tough experiences of living an LGBTQ life, says Shipman, as does the feedback from his audiences. “Being LGBTQ is not a curse. It’s a blessing.”

University of Toledo Art Department faculty Eric Zeigler (assistant professor of art, Art Print Center coordinator) and Brian Carpenter (assistant professor of art, gallery director) received international recognition for a course they designed for the department. Their paper “Engaging Tools” was published this week by the international research organization, Architecture_Media_Politics_Society (AMPS) in its conference publication, “AMPS Proceedings Series 17.1. Education, Design and Practice – Understanding skills in a Complex World.”

Students working with tools in the Foundations of Art Studio Technologies at UToledo

Zeigler and Carpenter’s paper covers the development and implementation of a course they designed for The University of Toledo Department of Art – Foundations of Art Studio Technologies (FAST). The purpose of the course is to enhance a student’s understanding of themselves as “tool-users” and to reinforce the importance of agency that is developed through the process of “making.”

Brian Carpenter, Gallery Director and Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Toledo

The paper’s introduction states, “The paper examines…our approach for creating an environment where students understand the physical, historical, and philosophical relationships between tools; can operate and discern the components of tools, and begin to create a foundation to become a manually competent knowledge worker.”

Eric Zeigler, UToledo Assistant Professor of Art and Coordinator of the Art Print Center

“I would add that the course is a foundational component in a college career where an understanding of the components of the systems we live within needs more scrutiny and analysis than ever before,” Zeigler said.

The FAST course has been offered at UToledo since 2016 and is greatly appreciated by the students who have taken it. One remarked anonymously in a course evaluation, “I love that we are able to learn something conceptually, and then immediately apply it hands-on. This isn’t common in most classes, and I really appreciate this.”

The paper was presented last June at the AMPS conference. A compilation of all the papers presented was published this week and back dated to the date of the conference. https://architecturemps.com/proceedings/

Citation:
Zeigler, Eric; Carpenter, Brian. “Engaging Tools.” In: Ellyn Lester (ed.), AMPS Proceedings Series 17.1. Education, Design and Practice – Understanding skills in a Complex World. Stevens Institute of Technology, USA. 17 – 19 June (2019). pp. 160-165

“Summer Daze” (color pencil drawing) by Alaina Coote, Art Student at The University of Toledo

Alaina Coote, a sophomore studying graphic and interactive design with The University of Toledo Department of Art, has received some important recognition and exposure for her work locally and nationally. Three of her color pencil drawings were chosen by a local hospital for display, and one, which also appeared locally on digital billboards, has been chosen to be published in a national calendar. Coote’s teacher, Barry Whittaker, associate professor of graphic and interactive design, said, “Alaina is putting her work out there, just as we discussed in class. I’m glad she is getting recognition for all her hard work.”

Coote’s work, “Summer Daze,” appeared in the UToledo Art Department’s annual Toledo area Digital Billboard Exhibition. The exhibition featured 21 pieces that were displayed on area digital billboards in January and February.

In addition, the drawing was chosen to be in the upcoming 2020 CURE® calendar, a national calendar created by CURE magazine, a national cancer information publication serving nearly 1 million readers among cancer patients, cancer centers and advocacy groups. The CURE webpage announcing the calendar winners states that, “Selected by a panel of judges, the artwork of the 12 winners exemplifies the beauty and creativity that can arise from the challenges of the cancer experience. Created using a variety of media, the pieces served as a therapeutic outlet for the artists and will inspire all those who view them.”
“Summer Daze” is from a collection of Coote’s drawings, which all feature women. The collection was inspired by her own personal life, having witnessed the experiences of her mother and grandmother who both battled cancer. “I saw how cancer had the ability to shape and change a women’s self-esteem and femininity. Cancer shaped their ideas about themselves and gave me a mature perspective about the psychological impact of the disease…This work is to serve as an encouragement to the women as they are battling cancer, portraying the power, beauty, femininity and strength that each woman has within themselves.”

“Summer Daze” (color pencil drawing) by Alaina Coote“Summer Daze” is also among three of Coote’s drawings that will soon be hanging in theWomen’s Specialty Center of Wooster Community Hospital in Wooster, Ohio. Michelle Quisenberry, director of marketing and public relations at WCH Health System, said she was impressed with Coote’s work and style. She felt that the pieces fit well with the center’s mission of serving the women of their community. Quisenberry added that the statewide shutdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus has delayed the framing and hanging of the pieces. The hospital will install the artworks when they are returned from the framer.

Deborah Orloff, Associate Chair, Photography Coordinator, Professor of Art, New Media Studies – Photography

Deborah Orloff, professor of photography and associate chair of The University of Toledo Department of Art, has received an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council for her body of work, “Elusive Memory.”

According to the Ohio Arts Council website, the excellence awards “are peer recognition of artists for the exceptional merit of a body of their work that advances or exemplifies the discipline and the larger artistic community. These awards support artists’ growth and development and recognize their work in Ohio and beyond.”

Orloff said the $5,000 grant will be used to expand her “Elusive Memory” series and to exhibit it nationally.

The work was inspired by an experience she had following the death of her father in 2007 when she was preparing a eulogy for his funeral. While drawing upon specific memories, she realized all of them were directly connected to photographs, causing her to wonder if she remembered the moments, or if the pictures had created false memories.

“I wanted to make work about this phenomenon, but the project didn’t actually take form until many years later,” Orloff said.

“About five years ago, I inherited thousands of neglected prints and slides that had been in my father’s basement, where they were damaged by flooding. I started photographing them in the studio, not knowing what I would do with the images, but hoping to salvage some of the family pictures for posterity,” she said. “It wasn’t until I saw them enlarged on a computer screen that I recognized their poignancy and greater relevance: I saw metaphors for loss and the fragmentary, ephemeral nature of memory.”

Her new work utilizes the severely damage photos.

“‘Elusive Memory’ explores the significance of vernacular photographs as aesthetic objects and cultural artifacts. The resulting large-scale photographs make commonplace objects monumental and emphasize their unique details,” Orloff said.

The exhibition is on display at Workspace Gallery in Lincoln, Neb. Upcoming exhibitions include Youngstown State University’s Solomon Gallery, Vincennes University’s Shircliff Gallery in Indiana, and Anna Maria College’s Art Center Gallery in Massachusetts.

In addition, Orloff’s project was featured recently online at “Aint — Bad,” an independent publisher of new photographic art.

Samples of Orloff’s work can be seen on her website at deborahorloff.com.

A few years ago, The University of Toledo’s Carlson Library took delivery of a special piece of campus history — a set of hands from the University Hall clock tower.

Now those brass hands are the focal point of a two-sided mural being painted near the library’s circulation desk by two students in UT’s Bachelor of Fine Arts Program as part of the library’s experiential learning initiative.

“We always wanted to display…” (Click link to read more.)

Timeless art: Pair of UT fine arts students incorporate old clock tower hands into mural at Carlson Library

Announcing the The UT Biodesign Challenge Team, Madeline Tomczak, who graduated with a bachelor of science degree in environmental science in May; Domenic Pennetta, a sophomore majoring in art; Jesse Grumelot, who graduated in May with a bachelor of science degree in bioengineering; and Lucya Keune, a senior studying visual arts. The team competed on June 21 and 22, 2018 and are the winners of the Outstanding Field Research Award at the 2018 International Biodesign Challenge Summit in NYC. The Biodesign Challenge course was taught by Department of Art, assistant professors, Eric Zeigler and Brian Carpenter Read more…

SEPTEMBER 13-15

DOWNTOWN TOLEDO (PROMENADE PARK, IMAGINATION STATION OUTDOOR AREAS)

University of Toledo School of Visual and Performing Arts faculty and students are involved in the festival in a BIG way! We are presenting several attractions this year. Look for us on Saturday afternoon at the Mini Maker Faire (Noon-6 p.m.).  The Faire is the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth—a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker Movement. It’s a place where people show what they are making, and share what they are learning. Makers range from tech enthusiasts to crafters to homesteaders to scientists to garage tinkerers. They are of all ages and backgrounds. The aim of Maker Faire is to entertain, inform, connect and grow this community.

UT ATTRACTIONS AT MOMENTUM

ALL TOGETHER NOW

JULIA LABAY DARRAH + YUSUF LATEEF (ALUMNA AND UT PART-TIME FACULTY)

All Together Now combines aspects of play, sculpture, and installation using interchangeable life-size forms. These lightweight sculptures will feature a conglomerate of images of the human body and will be placed on a stage, inviting participants to interact with the forms to create a “family photo”.

DIALOGUE WITH THE RIVER

BARBARA MINER (UT PROFESSOR OF ART, CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ART)

Dialogue With The River will be a group completed project, enabling hundreds of people to participate in the creation of an aesthetically engaging, temporary work of art. Based on Tibetan Prayer Flags, hand silk-screened flags with environmental information about the Maumee River and Lake Erie printed on the colorful fabric will be created. The flags will be available for individuals to write on and create “dialogues”, “wishes” or “pledges” for the health of the river and the lake. The customized flags will then be strung on the tent like uprights, creating a moving wind-driven sculpture. The idea is that the wind will carry the good wishes and the promises out into the world in hopes that the newly gained awareness of the river’s plight will influence the choices each of us makes. Didactic materials from regional and national groups such as Partners for Clean Streams, The Black Swamp Conservancy, and the Nature Conservancy will be available for visitors.

ECO PARADE

MATT FOSS (ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF THEATRE, UT DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND FILM)

Eco Parade showcases our community water source biodiversity, ecological need, and health with aims at improving our collective relationship and stewardship of the system as a whole. The parade will feature large format puppets and performance, live music, and community created objects; everyone will be invited to participate in the processional.

BUBBLE BUTT

SABA: SAM SHEFFIELD + BARRY WHITTAKER
(SHEFFIELD – BALTIMORE ARTIST, WHITTAKER – ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ART, UT DEPARTMENT OF ART)

Players will work as a team to explore a surreal and humorous landscape as a pair of sentient pants. Players must work together by bouncing on a convoluted, two-person, human-powered interface to control each leg of the pants avatar as it journeys through a series of ridiculous obstacles and distractions. Enjoy this work on Saturday, September 15th at the Toledo Mini Maker Faire.

STEM

MATTHEW DANSACK + SEBASTIEN SCHOHN (UT ART ALUMNI)

Stem is a digital interactive media project using multiple song stems (tracks of one or two instruments used to make a song) to allow participants a chance to create new song compositions. By interacting with an installation of amps, record crates, and digital technology, users can arrange the stems to create and download a song. Special thank you to Vincent Chiaverini for guitar samples.

UT BIODESIGN CHALLENGE PROJECTS AND BIOMATERIAL DEMONSTRATIONS

Professors Brian Carpenter and Eric Zeigler, along with UT students, will present Biodesign Projects by student teams that will engage with the greater public in a dialogue about real-world issues and potential solutions through biotechnology. Students will exhibit their prototypes along with their research.  Many of the prototypes made use of a 3D printer, CNC lasers, and CNC routers.  Additionally, UT faculty Brian Carpenter and Eric Zeigler will be performing simple biomaterial demonstrations. These demonstrations explore low-tech methods and materials that encourage playful interactions, to stimulate creativity, enabling the end user to tinker, design and build their own devices and realize the potential of imagination.