Art Department preview

The Art Department at the University of South Dakota will be offering a handful of exciting events for the students to attend this semester. Several artists are coming to the university for the opportunity to educate and entertain students.

University Art Gallery Director Alison Erazmus helps the Art Department decide which artists to bring in.

“Generally we bring in people who are art professors at other universities across the United States,” she said.

Some of the artists who will be visiting include:

• Ethan Murrow, Feb. 4 and 5.

This Stilwell Student Awards Exhibition juror will host a lecture about his work Feb. 5 at 2 p.m. in the Warren M. Lee Center for the Fine Arts, room 172.  Murrow will also serve as juror for the 2013 Stilwell Student Awards Exhibition, and will be involved in the Stilwell Salon de Refuse show, which consists of works that were rejected from the Stilwell Exhibition. It started as a protest show, but has now become a tradition for the students.

“I am excited to come and listen to Ethan Murrow speak, because he is an excellent artist and inspires me,” said first-year Jaime Sully.

Erazmus said Murrow was brought in to be an impartial judge, but also to educate students.

“When we bring in visual art professors we want them to work with the students and we know they’ll come in with an educational capacity,” she said.

• Diana Behl, Feb. 25 through March 1.

Behl’s works on paper have been featured in many publications, and have been exhibited throughout the country. Her mixed media images are also featured in The Drawing Center’s online Artist Registry and Viewing Program. Behl will host a lecture about her work on Feb. 27 at 2 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center, room 172.

Art Professor Michael Hook said he is a big fan of Behl’s work.

“Her work is elegant and engaging,” he said. “I’m certain our students will greatly benefit from her expertise. The visiting artist program is a vital part of what we offer to students and enables them to see and hear from working professional artists in the intimate setting of the classroom.”

• Karen Bondarchuk, March 13 through 15.

Bondarchuk’s art ranges from sculpture and drawing to other more obscure mediums , such as video and bookmaking. She is a visual artist who employs a broad range of materials and processes, but her current sculpture and drawing work involves mostly crows and ravens. Her artwork has been exhibited internationally and has won multiple awards. She will host a public lecture about her work March 13 at 2 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center, and her work will be shown in the John A. Day Gallery where she is showing her work March 4 through April 1, with a public reception Friday, March 15 from 5 to 7:30 p.m.

Erazmus recommended Bondarchuk because of her broad range of work and experience teaching at Western Michigan University.

“She’s not one dimensional,” Erazmus said. “She works in different media, so that is the appeal to bring her in.”