Three Exhibitions Opening at Bradbury Art Museum
JONESBORO – Bradbury Art Museum (BAM) at Arkansas State University will host a diverse exhibition of artwork by A-State Department of Art + Design faculty during the “2019 Faculty Biennial,” which features a wide range of media including ceramics, paintings, print, sculpture, new media, and photography.
This exhibition provides viewers an opportunity to see new works by renowned artists within the university. The public is invited to attend an opening reception at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26. The exhibition will remain on display through Nov. 13.
This year’s exhibition will include works from faculty members Bill Rowe, Cameron Buckley, Cara Sullivan, John Salvest, Kim Vickery, Melissa Wilkinson, Michael Loren Diaz, Robert McCarroll, Shelley Gipson and Susan Whiteland.
Accompanying the 2019 Faculty Biennial will be solo exhibitions by Curtis Steele, emeritus professor of art, and alumnus Teddy Wigginton.
Steele is a native of California, where he received his BFA in graphic design from the California College of the Arts and his MA in art with a concentration in photographic printmaking techniques from California State University, Chico. Steele first became a part of the A-State community when he joined the Department of Art faculty in 1978. In 1983, he received an MFA in Art with a concentration in photographic printmaking techniques from the University of Memphis. After 38 years on faculty, he retired as chair of the Department of Art + Design and professor of art. He has taught courses in graphic design, illustration and photography.
Steele “focuses on the miniscule packaging of cigarette rolling papers” in his exhibition “Papier Surfin.” He talks about his “fascination with the idea of the package as an art object” that he obtained at a young age by viewing works like Stuart Davis’ Lucky Strike, Edward Ruscha’s Actual Size, and Andy Warhol’s Brillo Boxes. He goes on to explain:
“When working on these pieces, there is a transcendental state that I enter where time has no significance. I work in solitude and in silence. Each Bezier curve I draw and each pixel I modify becomes the focus of eye and hand, an intuitive response, not the result of a conscious thought process. That is not to imply that there is no thought behind the work, the process is both meditative and stimulating. The result appears simple. Yet, in creating this apparent simplicity I find much satisfaction.”
Teddy Wigginton received a BFA in graphic design and an MA with an emphasis in sculpture, both from Arkansas State University, and he now teaches sculpture and design at Williams Baptist University in Walnut Ridge. Wigginton has participated in several group shows throughout the Northeast Arkansas area, as well as Memphis. A two-time cancer survivor, he was diagnosed with AML (leukemia) in 2011, and again in 2016. As a result of the relapse in 2016, he had to undergo a bone marrow transplant.
His match for transplant was located through the Be the Match Foundation; following this transplant, the Be the Match Foundation decided to publish a special edition book. This publication was an open call to anyone who was a bone marrow donor, recipient or patient caregiver. Wigginton took this opportunity to create and submit a piece of work, appropriately titled “Fight,” in which he tells the story of his own personal journey and battle. His submission was selected for publication and can be seen in "Be the Match Special Edition: Blood and Marrow Transplant Journeys 2018 Edition."
In his exhibition titled WHY, Wigginton uses everyday objects along with cast replicas of his hands to ponder the most philosophical question. “For most, things happen (be it good, or bad), and they process the situation, and quickly move on. At the point that most would be “moving on” or finding an end to the situation, I, as an artist, find that it is the beginning of a process that could last for years.”
BAM hours are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, noon to 7 p.m. on Thursday, noon to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, and by appointment.
The museum is closed on Monday and when the university is not in session.
For additional information about the exhibition and upcoming events and workshops please visit BradburyArtMuseum.org or contact the museum at (870) 972-3471.
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