Etsuko Ichikawa interview on WPR

Image courtesy of UW.

An interview with artist Etsuko Ichikawa to talk about her new installation at the UW Art Museum will be featured this afternoon on WPR's Open Spaces, which begins at 3 pm. Molly Messick from WPR talks with Etsuko about the exhibition: NACHI - between the eternal and the ephemeral - .

You can listen to it live online, or tune in to your local station to here the interview. A listing of stations can be found here.

There's Still Time to Sign Up for 20:20 Faculty

There is still time for LCCC and UW faculty members to sign up for 20:20, a public program hosted by the UW Art Museum that will be on Monday evening, March 7 at 7 pm. If you've ever wondered what other faculty members or departments are working on across campus, this is your chance!

This is an opportunity for faculty members to share with their colleagues and the community what is happening both on campus and off. We would like to hear about a range of topics – what is the art faculty creating in their studios? What kinds of collaborative projects is the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources working on? How does entomology combine with creative writing? What kinds of building designs are civil engineering students creating?

Two years ago, the UW Art Museum began a new program called 20:20, with the intention of providing a forum for sharing new ideas, projects, and work. What began as a program for visual artists has now expanded, and we’d like to extend an invitation to all LCCC and UW faculty and staff to participate in our next 20:20 event.

The goal of 20:20 is to provide people an opportunity to share their work in a fast-paced format that is engaging for the audience. For those who have images, a PowerPoint presentation is shown, consisting of 20 slides, each one shown for 20 seconds. The result is a 6 minute and 40 second presentation. It is not only a chance to show images, but we invite musicians, dancers, writers, or other performance based work to be presented in the same 6 minute and 40 second time frame.

Advance sign up is required by Friday, March 4^th. A minimum of 8 presenters is needed.

For more information, or to sign up, please contact UW Art Museum assistant curator Rachel Miller at rmiller@uwyo.edu or 307.766.6621.

Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational to Add New Artwork This Summer

Chris Drury, Carbon Sink: What Goes Around, Comes Around, 2011

Courtesy of the artist

The University of Wyoming Art Museum is planning to add several new works to the public art exhibition, Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational this summer.  The first is by British artist Chris Drury, who will be on site in July to create a new work for the University of Wyoming.

Carbon Sink continues Drury's ongoing exploration of making connections between such diverse phenomena as Nature and Culture, Inner and Outer, and Microcosm and Macrocosim.  Carbon Sink will be constructed from Wyoming coal and Wyoming beetle-killed pine which will be collected from the southeastern region of Wyoming.  The work will connect the geologic and economic importance of Wyoming coal with the current pine beetle infestation surrounding Laramie, commenting on the evolution of the geological and natural cycle of life.  The work will be 12 m in diameter on a site near Old Main on the UW campus.

Drury is one of Britain's leading Land Artists.  Originating in the US in the 1960s-70s, Land Art promotes the use of natural and found materials for the creation of large-scale and often site-specific artworks in the landscape and in remote locations.  In 1974, Drury made a 12-day trek in the Canadian Rockies with a pioneer of Land Art, Hamish Fulton, an experience that focused his creative pursuits.

Carbon Sink is made possible through an anonymous donor and the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund.

NACHI - between the eternal and the ephemeral -

 

Installation view, NACHI - between the eternal and the ephemeral -

UW Art Museum

Etsuko Ichikawa

UW Art Museum

The installation is nearly complete and the gallery is transformed into a special place of quiet contemplation.  Only the final fine-tuning remains.  Etusko has created an extraordinary work for the University of Wyoming and the Art Museum, for which we are most grateful and offer our congratulations.  The installation has been challenging and complicated, not only in its physical challenges but also by a schedule that involved so many students both in their classrooms and in the museum's galleries. 

NACHI - between the eternal and the ephemeral - opens tonight from 6 - 8 pm.  The exhibition continues through August 6, 2011.

Don't miss the opportunity to meet Etsuko and join her for an informal walk through the exhibition today at 4:30 pm.

This project has been made possible with the support of an anonymous donor, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Advisory Board of the UW Art Museum Endowment, the National Advisory Board of the UW Art Museum, Wyoming Public Radio, and the Wyoming Arts Council through the Wyoming State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts which believes a great nation deserves great art.

Drawing Students Assist Etsuko Ichikawa's Installation of NACHI

It has been a busy week in the Art Museum as the installation of NACHI - between the eternal and the ephemeral - continues.  Yesterday, drawing students from Prof. Shelby Shadwell's classes spent several hours helping to unfurl, untangle, and isolate each strand of the 11 miles of twine that comprise a large portion of the exhibition.  Prof. Margaret Wilson and dance students also visited the installation to finalize plans for improvisational dances during the opening reception this evening.

NACHI Installation Progresses

Installation view

Courtesy UW Art Museum

The installation of NACHI - between the eternal and the ephemeral - continues.  The suspended structures are complete and preparations to unfurl the hanging twine and hang six 14-ft tall pygrographs begin tomorrow.

Installation and Class Visits with Etsuko Ichikawa

Artist Etsuko Ichikawa (3rd from left) takes a break from installation to meet
with a UW dance class, who created improvisational dances inspired by her work.

Courtesy of the UW Art Museum.

Work continued today on the installation, NACHI - between the eternal and the ephemeral - by Etsuko Ichikawa. The large, ceiling mounted spiral of suspended cotton threads is almost complete. Video projection and pyrographs - drawings created by molten glass on paper - have yet to be installed.

Ichikawa met with UW classes today, including a drawing class and several dance classes. Dancers in the class met with her and learned about the inspiration behind her work. They then created improvisational dances in the gallery (pictured above) under the guidance of instructor Margaret Wilson.

Installation will continue throughout the week, and an opening reception will be held on Friday evening, 6-8 pm. UW Department of Dance students will be in attendance and will be performing some of their improvisational dance pieces. The reception is free and open to the public.

Please call the Art Museum at 307.766.6622 for more information.