Art Gallery:

Winter 2013 -

Mystery, Magic, and Mayhem: Wonders from the American Museum of Magic
Monday, January 14 to Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - Magic has long been a topic of both interest and controversy that has enthralled audiences for hundreds of years.  For some, it’s spiritualism and for others it’s strictly a performance art.  This exhibition of magic history provided a window into the worlds of illusion, conjuring, mentalism, and escape artistry.  On loan from the American Museum of Magic in Marshall, Michigan, there were over thirty stunning graphic visuals and related objects associated with legends such as Thurston, Houdini, and Michigan’s own Harry Blackstone, Sr.

Thursday, January 17, 5-7 p.m. - Opening Reception - At the opening visitors enjoyed the sleight of hand of Magician David Martin.  

Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition: 
Monica Lloyd, Illustration; Caleb Tacoma, Sculpture; Brooke Warner, Visual Studies & Audio
Monday, April 1 to Thursday, April 4, 2013

Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition: 
Jessica Maclin- illustration; Elizabeth Uitvlught- illustration; Nicole Grogg - metals; Dexter Dixon- visual studies
Monday, April 8 – Thursday, April 11, 2013

School of Communication Photography Senior Thesis Exhibition:   ballads of light
Tuesday, April 16 to Friday, April 26, 2013 - Artists are:  Allyssa Allor, Andrea Baker, Kristin Berens, Elizabeth Barton, Travis Deemer, Tara Harris, Samantha Hoogewind, Ray Nard, Lynsey Marcellus, Shealyn McGee, Cassie O'Toole, Stephanie Olach and Erika Umstead.

Fall 2013 -  

Cyril Lixenberg:  An Artist’s Journey
Friday, August 23 – Friday, November 1, 2013  - Cyril Lixenberg: an Artist’s Journey explored and celebrated 81 years of the life and work of the popular contemporary Dutch artist Cyril Lixenberg, whose monumental sculpture and eye-popping, colorful screen prints are exhibited throughout GVSU’s buildings and campuses. The exhibition featured new gifts of paintings and works on paper including drawings, mono-prints, print editions, small sculptures, and archival material spanning his early career as a struggling and evolving artist from the mid-1950s to the present.  Multiple exhibition venues across West Michigan simultaneously focused on particular aspects of Lixenberg’s art.   The venues were the Grand Rapids Art Museum, Muskegon Museum of Art, Calvin College, Center Art Gallery, and Saugatuck Center for the Arts.  The exhibit program was supported by a generous gift from Larry and Elaine Ritowski Shay and, in part, by public funds from the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York and a grant from the Netherland-American Foundation.

BFA Exhibit:  Waiting Room
Monday, November 11 to Thursday, November 14, 2013 - This Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition features art from Dillon Vrosh, Illustration; Jacob Stillson, Painting; Jessica Accardo, Illustration; Paul Warfield, Sculpture.

School of Communications Photography Senior Thesis Exhibition:  The Emerging Allegory
Tuesday, November 19 to Friday, December 6, 2013 - The School of Communications, celebrating 30 years, sponsored The Emerging Allegory. Ten emerging photographers exhibited their newest images for the exhibition.  Those participating in The Emerging Allegory included: Zachary Campbell, Ashley Kuntz, Heather Mertz, Jessica Monroe, Felicia Moses, Alexianna Mundy, Olivia Nevius, Trisha Piszczek, Amanda Smiley, and Kelsey Steinhauser.

 

Red Wall Gallery:

Winter 2013 -

Mukono to Kampala: Life in Uganda by Ken VanderWal
Monday, January 7 to Wednesday, March 13, 2013 - Photographer and Grand Valley State University Facilities Services staff member, Ken VanderWal, has traveled to Uganda as a missionary thirteen times since 2004. He has recorded a detailed visual exposé of the daily life of southern Ugandans in the countryside, villages, and cities from Mukono to the capital city of Kampala. 

VanderWal has captured images of people with hope, rather than exploiting the harsh and difficult conditions in which they live. He intentionally records subjects and scenes that depict people with whom viewers can relate…those with dreams for a better life.

Fishladder and Student Scholars Day Exhibit
Monday, March 18 – Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - Celebrating the award winning fishladder Student Journal of Art and Writing and the scholarship and creativity of Grand Valley State University students.

Fall 2013 -

Home Run: Laker Baseball Goes to Cuba
Friday, August 23, 2013 to Thursday, October 31, 2013 - In January, 2012 Grand Valley's baseball team spent one week in Havana, Cuba, seeking challenging international competition, a "study-abroad" and service-learning experience.  Photography selection for this exhibit is by Gordon Alderink, Associate Professor of Health Professions.

Mr. Tim Selgo, Director of Athletics at Grand Valley, established a policy that encouraged and provided resources for select GVSU inter-collegiate sport teams to travel abroad to compete and have a cultural experience.  When the international travel opportunity was presented to Coach Lyon by Mr Selgo, Cuba was the choice.  GVSU would be the second college baseball team in U.S. History to play baseball in Cuba.  In addition to the baseball competition, the GVSU players were able to participate in the life of Havana as tourists and also assist in the work of FHA (First Hand Aid).

Haiti's Children: Hope Amidst the Rubble
Monday, November 4 to Friday, December 13, 2013 - The country of Haiti, a short hour and a half plane trip from the U.S., was hit by a massive earthquake in January, 2010, that killed between 46,000 and 86,000 Haitians, according to recently revised figures.  Several hundred thousand remain in patchwork tent cities in and around the capital now, nearly 4 years later, complicated by no infrastructure, 85% unemployment, no real industry or raw materials, a dysfunctional government, and alleged corruption throughout the country.  In 2012, Dr. Steven L. Smith from the Grand Valley School of Social Work, spent his sabbatical working in Haiti among some of the many tent cities in Port-au-Prince, and also worked in a private orphanage, and a new school for restavek (indentured servant) children built through the missionary efforts of several U.S. citizens.  Part of his work included a documentary photographic essay of the children and family situations he encountered during his time there.  Dr. Smith expected, and found, a living environment which for many included horrible shelter and sanitary conditions, inadequate food, water, medical and psychological care, and a non-functioning economy.  However, many children not only survived, but thrived in conditions that are far more brutal than some of the worst poverty in the United States. These Haitian children, mostly living a meager daily existence without regular clean water and sporadic food consisting of mostly beans and rice, were happy, hopeful and created a sense of normalcy amidst the chaos that consumed the adults. This photo essay intersperses stories of tragedy with photographs of these children, in a surprising picture of surprising hope amidst the rubble.

 

Thornapple Gallery:

Winter 2013 -

Hiroshige: Stations of the Tokaido Road, Curated by the winter 2012 Gallery Practicum Class taught by Affiliate Professor David Keister
Friday, August 24, 2012 to Friday, March 22, 2013 - On display were prints from Ando Hiroshige (1797-1858).  Hiroshige’s 53 Stations of the Tokaido Road is an example of the ukiyo-e Japanese woodblock print tradition during the Edo Period (1615-1868). These “pictures of the floating world” depicted the transient leisure activities of the growing middle class, and often showed the elusive quality of nature through seasons and weather.

Hiroshige’s work is characterized by vibrant color and precise line work. His Tokaido Road series displays the liveliness and spontaneity that made his prints popular.

We would like to thank the winter 2012 Gallery Practicum Class at Grand Valley State University for curating this exhibit, with special thanks to Damon Graham, Rayne Klar, Krissy Skinner, and Brianna Thiel for their detailed research, writing, and selections.

Cyril Lixenberg: An Artist’s Journey
Friday, August 23 to Friday December 6, 2013 - This exhibition of prints by Cyril Lixenberg reflected the qualities of the Post-minimalist movement. Many artists of this time challenged minimalist ideas through a broad range of concepts, techniques, and materials. By extracting personal, cultural and political contexts artists extended minimalist beliefs, questioned mood, and created work with organic, expressive qualities. Lixenberg decided to simultaneously produce both site- specific sculptures and silkscreens to showcase the contradictory ideas of minimalism and Post- minimalism. "Phase Array" is an example of a silkscreen from these dichotomic pieces, which comments on the concepts obtained by different movements and how these ideas manifest themselves in society.

 

West Wall Gallery:

Winter 2013 -

PIC's Pics: A Study Abroad Photo Contest
Monday, January 7 - Friday, April 26, 2012 - Selections from The Padnos International Center’s first PIC Pics: A Study Abroad Photo Contest. All GVSU students who studied abroad within the last three years were invited to submit their photographs in the following categories: 'Where is your Classroom?' 'Get Lost' 'Social Issues' 'Send me There!' 'The Great Outdoors' and 'Celebration, Tradition, & Ritual.' The winning images were selected by public vote and became part of the GVSU permanent art collection.

Fall 2013 -

Les Nabis: French Prophets of Modern Art, A Selection from the Robert L. Hoskins and Erwin A. Raible Collection of Fin de Siècle French Prints. A Gift of Elaine Rutowski Shay
August 23, 2013 - Friday, April 25, 2014 - The word “Nabis” means prophet in Hebrew and Arabic and was a term applied to a rebellious group of young art students at the Académie Julian in Paris, France. The poet Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909) coined the term “Les Nabis” by drawing parallels between these artists, who aimed to revitalize painting much as the ancient Jewish prophets rejuvenated Israel. This movement set an avant-garde pace for art, one that was distinctly different from the Impressionist painters who used small, thin brush strokes to emphasize accurate depictions of light. Erv Raible began collecting when he and his business partner opened cabaret and piano bar style clubs in New York City. A critical question they faced was, “what should the club's ambiance be?” One of the clubs Raible revitalized had chandeliers that resembled Moulin Rouge in the 1890s and Raible quickly thought of the artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Fin de siècle French prints became the collectors’ focus. GVSU acquired this collection of French Prints in 2009 and has made numerous reproductions since for display purposes. This French print collection today may be found on the GVSU Allendale Campus, Robert C. Pew Grand Rapids Campus, and the Detroit Center.