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Jan. 27, 2006– The University of Utah Department of Art
and Art History will present two free public lectures, the third
and fourth in the 2005-06 Carmen Morton Christensen Visiting Artist/Art
Historian Lecture Series. On Thursday, Feb. 9, painter Scott Duce
and multimedia installation artist Robin Starbuck will be the
featured speakers. On Tuesday, April 4, sculptor Anika Smulovitz
will present a lecture on her work. Both presentations will be
held from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., in the department lecture hall, room
158, of the University’s Art Building, 375 S. 1530 E.
“The Visiting Artist Lecture Series is a superb experience
for both our students and the Salt Lake community,” notes
Kim Martinez, assistant professor in the U’s Department
of Art and Art History. “Our program provides art and art
history majors with an opportunity to dialogue with artists and
art historians who have impacted the national and international
art world. These lecturers also meet with art students to critique
and interact with the students’ work. This process gives
students information about their work that may have a tremendous
influence on their conceptual and formal art making skills.”
Duce’s paintings establish a simulated memory of place by
combining recognizable images in an inner panel, surrounded by
an abstract enclosure that is generally produced from the observation
of actual fragments of surface texture. The fragments may be based
on wall surfaces, tile patterns, or less specific visual memories.
The inner and outer images of the paintings represent very different
types of visual space; however Duce retains a close relationship
between them through the use of similarly referential color or
texture, or through the emotion engendered by color combinations.
He instills energy in his work by creating a contrast between
the tranquility of the inner image and the expressionistic, though
more flat, outer image.
“The work focuses on the combination of my interest in color
and my empathy with nuances of changing light in nature,”
says Duce. “Although much of my work portrays vistas, trees
and skies, the images do not correspond to specific sites or places,
but, rather, are composites of my travels throughout Europe, South
America and my experiences from living in several regions of the
United States, including the Northeast, Southeast and Rocky Mountains.”
Duce received a bachelor of fine arts (BFA) degree from the University
of Utah and a master of fine arts (MFA) degree from Boston University.
Upon graduating, he accepted a teaching position at Wesleyan College,
where he became a tenured professor. Currently, Duce lives and
paints full-time in New York City. His work is owned by many museums,
private and corporate collections and his paintings are featured
in galleries in New York, Atlanta, Greenwich, Chicago and many
other cities.
Robin Starbuck’s work is an investigation of psycho-symbolic
development in Western culture. The primary focus of her work
has involved an application of Freud's theory of trauma to aspects
of American cultural identity. Her current studio orientation
is in installation with aspects of interactive media—sound
and video, sculpture and comic-style painting. Starbuck is currently
developing several video and installation works, including “Limping
Past the Barbed Wire Fence” for exhibit in Colorado later
this year.
Starbuck received her BFA in multimedia art from the School of
the Art Institute of Chicago. She has received multiple awards
and grants for her work, including Quaker and Gardner Foundation
grants, Fellowships for Schloss Plueschow in Germany and inclusion
in the Intermuseum competition in Moscow, Russia. She currently
lives in New York, where she maintains a studio and teaches at
Sarah Lawrence College and Pratt Institute.
Smulovitz’s scholarly and artistic work draws on the rich
history of the field of metals and jewelry. Her current research
focuses on the non-neutrality of materials, issues of adornment,
beauty, taboo and conformity.
Smulovitz has received scholarships and grants from the Women’s
Jewelry Association, the Society of Midwest Metalsmiths, the Albert
K. Murray Fine Arts Educational Fund and the Glenn Allen Scholarship
from the School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Her work has been featured in the books “Fabulous Jewelry
from Found Objects” (Lark Books, 2004); “1000 Rings:
Inspiring Adornments for the Hand” (Lark Books, 2004); and
“Art Jewelry Today” (Schiffer Publishing, 2003). Currently
her work is shown at J. Crist Gallery, in Boise, Idaho.
Support for the Visiting Artist/Art Historian Lecture Series is
provided by the Carmen Morton Christensen Foundation Endowment.
For more information on the upcoming art lectures, contact Assistant
Professor Kim Martinez, in the Department of Art and Art History,
at 801-581-6513.
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