Art professors exhibit at KU research facility

November 26, 2007

Media Contact:
Erin Curtis-Dierks
Communications Director, School of Fine Arts
Phone: 785.864.9742
edierks@ku.edu
www.music.ku.edu

Art professors exhibit at KU research facility

Click here to view a video about the art faculty participating in this MRB exhibit.

In a collaboration between the School of Fine Arts and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research, the works of three Department of Art faculty members are on display at the Multidisciplinary Research Building (MRB) on KU's Lawrence West Campus. This is the second time works from KU?s art faculty have been displayed at the building. Gerald Lubensky, professor of painting, Alison Luoma, assistant professor of sculpture, and Carol Ann Carter, professor of expanded media, were selected to display select pieces of their work.

The original idea for the exhibition dates back to a conversation between James Roberts, then Vice Provost for Research, and Steve Hedden, Dean of the School of Fine Arts. Judith McCrea, professor of painting and former chair of the Department of Art, implemented and negotiated the details of the project, along with a 10-member selection committee from various disciplines and offices across the KU Campus.

The concept is to place contemporary visual art and science together in a setting exemplifying curiosity and intellectual inquiry regarding the human condition and our relationship to the natural world.

Dawn Marie Guernsey, chair of the Department of Art, helped coordinate this year?s exhibition and is enthusiastic about its purpose.

?Though we tend to think of artists and scientists as having very different motivations, different activities and different outcomes, in fact, scientists and artists have so much in common,? said Guernsey. ?Both work with observation and inspiration. Both are concerned with knowing the world and building a culture. The exhibition at MRB is a wonderful opportunity for cross-discipline understanding. I hope we can continue this venue each year. We?re all so grateful to everyone who has helped make this project happen.?

Completed in 2005, the MRB is a facility designed to encourage collaborative research. The MRB supports a mix of research encompassing a variety of projects, including components of the KU Bioinformatics Program, bioanalytical chemistry, drug discovery, stable isotope geology, and nanoscience. More than 200 scientists, students, and other research staff work in the building.

Plans are to hold a similar exhibition each year at the MRB. For more information, contact KU?s Department of Art at 785-864-4401.

Photos taken by Megan Gannon.