Postcard design by Zena Pirnot, UWF Department of Art Graphic Design student.

ALL NATURAL

An exhibition of work by Chad Curtis

February 2, 2012 – March 15, 2012

Opening Reception February 2, 2012 6-8pm // Genius Loci Artist Lecture February 2, 2012 5-6pm

All Natural, an exhibition of work by Philadelphia-based sculptural installation artist Chad Curtis, explores the dialectic of the biological and the mechanical.   Curtis utilizes highly processed and digitally manipulated sculptural materials like clay, plastic, cardboard, plywood and foam creating a simulated experience that recontextualizes our largely mediated lived existence. According to the artist,  his work “draws inspiration from both digital technology and homebrew DIY makers examining the effects of high technology on the relationship between human beings and the natural environment.”* Curtis contrasts imagery from nature with highly synthetic and controlled installations that display a seductive attraction to materials further highlighting his exploration of the boundaries between what is real and natural, and what is manufactured.

-Amy Bowman-McElhone, Curator + Director, TAG UWF

*Chad Curtis, “Biography,” chaddcurtis.com/biography

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Mr. Curtis holds a MFA from Alfred University and is an Assistant Professor at the Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He has exhibited internationally including: Margins: A Nontraditional Approach to Clay, The Icehouse, Phoenix, AZ (2009); Archaeology of Wonder, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT (2008); Primary, Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University, Grand Rapids, MI (2008); Scope Hamptons, East Hampton, NY (2007); CIRCA Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico (2007); One Part Clay: Ceramic Avant-garde & Mixed Media, Garth Clark Gallery, Long Island City, NY (2006); Scope Miami, Miami Beach, FL (2006); and SOFA New York, New York, NY (2005). Additionally, his work has been included in such publications as Ceramics Art and Perception, Neue Keramik, Seramik Turkiye, and the recent books Breaking the Mould: New Approaches to Ceramics and Tangible: High Touch Visuals. For more information, visit his website chaddcurtis.com.

All events are FREE and open to the public.

TAG is located on UWF’s campus in The Center for Fine and Performing Arts, Building 82.

The Art Gallery at the University of West Florida seeks to challenge, stimulate and engage students and the greater public through direct interaction with works of contemporary art.

Postcard design by UWF Department of Art Graphic Design students Chris Edgar, Amanda Merritt, Matt Pham and Zena Pirnot.

OPEN STORAGE EXPOSITION /A CABINET OF FACULTY OBJECT OBSESSIONS

January 10, 2012 – January 26, 2012 //

Reception January 12, 2012 6-8pm

Objects play a vital role in our lives.  They are a material record of our existence. The desire to accumulate meaningful artifacts is a uniquely human impulse.  We all save mementos from significant events in our lives and cherish objects passed down through generations.  Museums formed because of this impulse.  They are houses built to study, preserve and display the collections amassed by people over time. As such, museums communicate our history, our culture, our traditions, our nature.

How do we decide which objects are worth collecting? The ideas, the images and the objects we value are shaped by our culture. However, cultural values differ from society to society and change with time. This mutability calls into question the hierarchies that determine what is worthy of display.  This exhibition seeks to share collections and objects that tell stories of personal and individual histories, inspirations, obsessions and relationships.

In the tradition of 17th and 18th century European Wunderkammers or Cabinets of Curiosities, Open Storage Exposition / A Cabinet of Faculty Object Obsessions presents a sumptuous collection of artifacts, objects, artworks and ephemera collected by UWF Art Faculty over the years.  The wondrously eclectic collection provides an insightful (and sometimes intimate) look into the creative impulses shaping the work and lives of these artists and educators.

We invite you to experience our little, ephemeral museum and hopefully find some beauty in our mess.

-Amy Bowman-McElhone, Curator + Director, TAG UWF

All events are free and open to the public. For more information contact TAG UWF at artgallery@uwf.edu or 850.474.2696.

The Art Gallery at the University of West Florida seeks to challenge, stimulate and engage students and the greater public through direct interaction with works of contemporary art.

Postcard image by Ian Lett, B.F.A., UWF 2011.

SURFACE TENSION

Brandon Hicks +  Joshua Whidden

BFA Exit Exhibition

December 1, 2011 – December 9, 2011 // Opening Reception December 1, 2011 6-8pm

Surface Tension is a collaborative exhibition featuring the work of Brandon Hicks and Joshua Whidden. Sharing a common interest in the traditional disciplines of drawing and painting, both artists pull from similar influences including one another, yet diverge in their individual aesthetic vision. A tension emerges with the biomorphic and surreal sculptures of Brandon Hicks and the collection of still life oil paintings by the artist.   Joshua Whidden’s intimate oil paintings deal with light, form, and formlessness enveloped within surreal landscapes. The artists are drawn together by their obsession with process and surface. Their work seeks to build a certain physical and emotional tension. This is a phenomenon created within and between surfaces. This is Surface Tension.

-Brandon Hicks + Joshua Whidden, 2011

TAG UWF and the University of West Florida Department of Art annually host exhibitions of work from graduating Bachelor of Fine Arts students.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information contact TAG UWF at artgallery@uwf.edu or 850.474.2696.

The Art Gallery at the University of West Florida seeks to challenge, stimulate and engage students and the greater public through direct interaction with works of contemporary art.

Postcard design by UWF Graphic Design students Amanda Merritt, Chris Edgar and Zena Pirnot.

November 10, 2011 – November 23, 2011

Genius Loci Artist Lecture: Thomas Asmuth November 17, 5-6pm

Reception: November 17, 6 -8-pm

Opening reception sponsored by the Lewis Bear Company.  Funded in part by the SGA.

FEATURING:

Thomas Asmuth

Gary Batzloff

Dale Castellucci

Valerie George

Joseph Herring

Jim Jipson

Dan Kelleher

John Markowitz

Rachel Pongetti

Marzia Ransom

Amy Ruddick

Greg Saunders

Adam Shiverdecker

Lyda Toy

Amy Bowman, Curator, TAG UWF

The annual UWF Art Faculty exhibition showcases new works of contemporary art from Department of Art faculty members who exhibit in venues across the country.  The exhibition surveys the breadth of work currently produced by UWF Art professors.  It is an opportunity for students and community members to gain a sense of the professional work produced by the department.

  UWF Department of Art, www.uwf.edu/art

All events are free and open to the public.  For more information, contact TAG UWF at artgallery@uwf.edu or 850.474.2696.

The Art Gallery at the University of West Florida seeks to challenge, stimulate and engage students and the greater public through direct interaction with works of contemporary art.

Ian Lett BFA Exit Exhibition

October 27th – November 4th, 2011  // Opening Reception October 27th, 2011 6-8pm

ALEF YUD ALEF NUN by BFA graduate Ian Lett explores his experiences and responses to growing up as a Jewish person in the Southern United States.  According to Lett, “my working method addresses these concepts through the integration of graphic design elements within a fine arts context.”  ALEF YUD ALEF NUN is an exhibition of strong, thought-provoking work that highlights the talent and effort of Ian Lett  as an artist and designer, and showcases the BFA program at UWF.

TAG UWF and the University of West Florida Department of Art annually host exhibitions of work from graduating Bachelor of Fine Arts students.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information contact TAG UWF at artgallery@uwf.edu or 850.474.2696.

The Art Gallery at the University of West Florida seeks to challenge, stimulate and engage students and the greater public through direct interaction with works of contemporary art.

Postcard design by Chris Edgars, UWF Graphic Design student.

Watered Down Kegs of Rum

An exhibition of work by Derek Coté

September 15, 2011 – October 20, 2011

Opening Reception September 15, 2011 6-8pm // Genius Loci Artist Talk September 15, 2011 5-6pm

Derek Coté’s installations mine cultural histories and explore the formation of North America by addressing western expansion and the notions of alienation, assimilation and exploitation.* These concepts manifest themselves in Coté’s work through constructions of architectural symbols and modular structures that use light, video and sound to facilitate dramatic shifts in scale within created environments.  Coté presents repositioned narratives of the creation of societies that function on both broad and intimate levels as seen in his recent 2011 installation, Six Flags, at Seed Space gallery in Nashville, Tennessee.  Curator Mark Scala described the installation as a sensory split, oscillating between a barrage of flashing images and disjointed audio and a stabilized environment – a faux living room that reinforced “the illusory feeling of security we might have when surrounded by walls, barriers or filters.”** Coté’s experiential installations create an environmental and foundational structure for his conceptual exploration of the imagery, signs and codes that organize North American life.

-Amy Bowman-McElhone, Director + Curator, TAG UWF

*Derek Coté, Creative Statement, http://www.derekcote.com/resume.html 

** Mark Scala, Catalog Essay, Six Flags, Seed Space (2011) Nashville, Tennessee

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Mr. Coté studied at Western Washington University, and Virginia Commonwealth University where he received his BFA and MFA in Sculpture + Extended Media. He has exhibited nationally and internationally including exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Tacoma Art Museum, Art Museum of the University of Memphis, Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, Houston Center for Photography, Exit Art, AC Institute, and Roebling Hall in New York City, Marmara University in Istanbul, Marc DePuechredon Gallery in Basel, and Artwave Radio in Athens, Greece. In addition, Mr. Coté was included in the 2007 Young Sculptors Competition, received a Professional Artist Fellowship from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Support Grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Tennessee Arts Commission, and was an Artist-in-Residence at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art. For more information, visit his website, www.derekcote.com.

All events are FREE and open to the public.

TAG is located on UWF’s campus in The Center for Fine and Performing Arts, Building 82.

The Art Gallery at the University of West Florida seeks to challenge, stimulate and engage students and the greater public through direct interaction with works of contemporary art.

 TAG Is Getting New Lighting!!

The new exhibition season will start on September 15th, 2011 with Watered Down Kegs of Rum, an exhibition by visiting artist Derek Coté.

ALEF YUD ALEF NUN, Ian Lett BFA Exhibition is moved to October 27, 2011 – November 4, 2011.  We apologize for the inconvenience.

BFA Exit Exhibition

Featuring Whitney Dalton, Le Milford, + Kyla Mucci

April 21 – May 6, 2011  // Reception April 29, 2011 6-8pm

Common Thread is a collaborative art exhibition featuring the work of Whitney Dalton, Le Milford, and Kyla Mucci.  Working within an interdisciplinary fine arts academic program, each of these women incorporates influences pertaining to the domestic space. This interest in the domestic space centers on the sewing machine and the tradition of sewing. From this starting point, each artist engages different aspects of the art making process, be that fabrication, conceptualization, or elements of storytelling. These divergent attributes are drawn together by a common thread.

-Whitney Dalton, Le Milford + Kyla Mucci

TAG UWF and the Department of Art at UWF annually host exhibitions of work from graduating Bachelor of Fine Arts students.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information contact TAG UWF at artgallery@uwf.edu or 850.474.2696.

The Art Gallery at the University of West Florida seeks to challenge, stimulate and engage students and the greater public through direct interaction with works of contemporary art.

Postcard design by Richard Humphreys, BA Digital Media, University of West Florida, 2010.

ICONICITY

An Exhibition of Work by Scott Campbell and Albert Exergian

March 10, 2011 – April 14, 2011

Opening Reception: March 10, 2011  6-8 pm

Opening reception sponsored by the Lewis Bear Company.

______________________________________________________________

Iconicity is an exhibition of work by two graphic designers, Scott Campbell and Albert Exergian, whose poster designs function as art.  Both artists utilize the poster medium, Campbell for music events or “gigs” and Exergian for television with his Iconic TV series.  The semiotic term “iconicity” refers to the analogous relationship between the form of a sign,  which can be language, sound or image, and the meaning or object to which it refers, or signifies.  In other words, iconicity is the direct and inherent relationship of meaning to form as in the relationship of a portrait to it’s subject.*  In no other discipline is iconicity so thoroughly expressed than in graphic design.  Visual form is crafted to embody concepts creating an iconic image.  The embodiment of  music and television as a visual image is seen in the work of Campbell and Exergian.

Campbell creates rich and lushly layered screen prints that serve as the central image for band posters.  The images are also re-presented as art prints without text.  His work is both distinctive and exemplary of the increasingly popular gig poster design sub-genre.  Exergian’s self-initiated, non-promotional posters for television shows cleverly distill the essence of each TV series into minimal forms and compositions derived from modernist design.  According to the artist, the series was created out of a love for posters, Modernism and television. Both Campbell and Exergian are designers who function as artists through their intelligent treatment of image as both a form for mass communication and an outlet for expression.

Mr. Exergian is a self-employed graphic designer who was born, raised and currently works in Vienna, Austria.  His company, EXERGIAN, founded in 1998, is a Vienna-based design consultancy that specializes in art direction, identity and design for a multitude of applications, media and environments. For more information, please visit his website, exergian.com.  Mr. Exergian’s poster series, Iconic TV, featured in this exhibition, is available for purchase as A1 Epson Giclee prints from British print shop, Blanka.  For more information on purchasing Iconic TV prints, please visit these websites: print-process.com and blanka.co.uk.

Mr. Campbell is a designer, illustrator, and printmaker currently working and living in New Orleans, Louisiana.  He studied printmaking and design at Louisiana State University and Penland School of Crafts. He then devoted his time to screen printing, recording, playing music throughout the United States, and working on print projects within the music and entertainment industries.  In 2009, he  co-established the Chattanooga, Tennessee design and printing collective, Young Monster. His work was displayed at the Museum of Design Atlanta in the exhibition, Graphic Noise (2005) and is featured in several design books including Dirty Fingernails and 1000 Indie Posters (John Foster / Rockport Press). He is passionate about print design, typography, screen printing, and analog synthesizers. For more information, please visit his website, www.scttcmpbll.com.  The posters and prints presented in this exhibition are available for purchase on Mr. Campbell’s website.

-Amy J. Bowman, Curator

* www.semioticon.com/virtuals/iconicity

All events are FREE and open to the public.

TAG is located on UWF’s campus in The Center for Fine and Performing Arts, Building 82.

The Art Gallery at the University of West Florida seeks to challenge, stimulate and engage students and the greater public through direct interaction with works of contemporary art.

Postcard design by Richard Humphreys, BA Digital Media, UWF 2010 and Ian Lett, BFA Digital Media, UWF 2011.

University of West Florida Department of Art and TAG UWF presents

TAGGED 2011 STUDENT ART

An exhibition of work by University of West Florida students.

Juried by UWF Alumna Alexis Leader and UWF Department of Art Faculty members.

February 10, 2011 – March 4, 2011

Reception: February 17, 2011 6-8pm

Reception sponsored by the Lewis Bear Company.

TAGGED 2011: Student Art Exhibition is open to all UWF students and provides an opportunity to exhibit artwork in a professional gallery environment.  Every year TAG UWF and the Department of Art host the juried student art exhibition in an effort to foster passion in the arts and the pursuit of artistic endeavor.

Juror Alexis Leader received her Master of Arts degree in Art History from the Savannah College of Art & Design in 2008 and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from the University of West Florida in 2004.  Her research focuses on Feminist Art History and Curatorial Studies.  Leader has held a variety of curatorial internship and staff positions in Savannah, Georgia and Toronto, Canada.  She also served as the Special Projects Curator for the Pensacola Museum of Art.  Leader is on the Executive Committee of the PMA Culture Club, Art in the Park and Art in Bloom.

TAG UWF is a non-profit gallery and takes no commission from the artists. Students are encouraged to promote and sell their work.  All events are free and open to the public.  For more information contact us at artgallery@uwf.edu or 850.474.2696.

The Art Gallery at the University of West Florida seeks to challenge, stimulate and engage students and the greater public through direct interaction with works of contemporary art.