Robert Michael Smith: Islands in the Stream: Singularity Art / Sustainable Life for Post-Humanity
Wednesday, September 18
Distinguished sculptor Robert Michael Smith gave an artist talk covering his long career in the worlds of virtual and actual sculpture.
Jennifer Field: Community, Landscape, Inspiration
Wednesday, April 17
Curator and author Jennifer Field gave a visual tour of two recent exhibitions featuring the work of Indiana-born sculptor David Smith. Dr. Field is Executive Director at The Estate of David Smith as well as a curator and author. She has held curatorial and research positions at The Museum of Modern Art, the Willem de Kooning Foundation, and Di Donna Galleries. Her projects have included the exhibitions Songs of the Horizon: David Smith, Music, and Dance; Surrealism in Mexico; Martin Puryear; Manet and the Execution of Maximil; and De Kooning: A Retrospective. Field received her MA from Hunter College and her PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.
Júlia Sodré
Thursday, April 11
Júlia Sodré spoke about the relationship between trauma, family, and neurodiversity in her work. Her piece Loneliness is my companion was a part of the Give and Takeexhibition. Sodré is a Brazilian artist and writer based in Portland, Oregon. Her work is confessional and investigates her interpersonal relationships. Sodré obsessively probes her identity as a chronically lonely individual as she attempts to comprehend what it means to perpetually mourn the wasted potential for human connection.
This program was made possible with support from the Christel DeHaan Family Foundation.
SIOSI: Phillip Tennant Furniture Artisan Lecture
Wednesday, March 20
SIOSI is Audi and Ivy: a two-woman, Bloomington-based team who blur the lines between life, work, and art. SIOSI has been designing and making furniture since 2012. The duo leans towards Scandinavian-inspired design but are known to color outside of the lines. Ultimately, it's all about the details, clean lines and a respect for mother nature.
Established in honor of Professor Phillip Tennant, the founding instructor of the Herron School of Art’s Furniture Design Program, and through the generosity of James W. and Nancy C. Smith, this lecture series supports a visiting artist or scholar from the fields of furniture design, fabrication, or a closely related field.
Transcending Distances: A Conversation with Judith Glaser
Wednesday, March 6
Professional goldsmith Judith Glaser discussed her work and her partnership with Herron professors for the Connecting Distances: Virtual Glabal Learning Collaborations exhibition. Glaser has professional experience in Germany and abroad, and holds a master's degree in product design with a focus on interaction design from Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin (KHB). Since 2018, she has been working for Studio NAND, a Berlin-based design studio specializing in data-driven user interfaces and interactive technologies. This work and her teaching activities for the interdisciplinary project format ›Coding IxD‹ led to her research interest in competencies and constellations of knowledge at the intersection of design and computer science.
Melissa Mongiat: Christel DeHaan Family Foundation Visiting Artist Lecture
Wednesday, February 28
Melissa Mongiat, co-founder of Daily tous les jours, discussed her work creating collective experiences. Mongiat co-founded Daily tous les jours in 2010, alongside Mouna Andraos. The Montreal-based art and design studio is best known for its work in public spaces, inviting people to play a critical role in the transformation of cities. While embracing opportunities that technology offers, her work focuses on participation and storytelling.
The Christel DeHaan Family Foundation Visiting Artist Lecture brings prominent contemporary artists to come to Herron to present their work and ideas.
Kirk Wallace Johnson
Wednesday, February 21
Kirk Wallace Johnson, author of The Feather Thief, gave the 2024 Jordan H. and Joan R. Leibman Forum on the Legal and Business Environment of Art talk. Johnson’s The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist was nominated for the Edgar, the Gold Dagger, and the Andrew Carnegie Medal in 2019. He is the founder of the List Project to Resettle Iraqi Allies, which he started after serving with USAID in Fallujah. Johnson's writing has appeared in The New Yorker and The New York Times, and on This American Life, among others.
“Give and Take” Artist Conversation with Jamie Pawlus, Constance Scopelitis and April Knauber
Wednesday, February 7
Local artists Jamie Pawlus, Constance Scopelitis and April Knauber discussed their work at the opening of the Give and Take exhibition. Give and Take featured participatory artworks by local, national, and international artists. Each artwork evokes one of the five senses and invites visitors to partake in their activation.