2015-2016 Visiting Artist Lecture Series

Featuring Donna Legault, Dylan Collins, Janet Koplos for the Cynthia Myerberg Lecture, John Pena, Jen Mussari, Jason Freeny for the Deem Distinguished Lecture, Ryan Clifford, Matthew Coolidge, and David Wilkins for the J. Bernard Schultz Endowed Lecture in Art History.

Donna Legault

Sept. 1, 2015 | Exhibition in the Paul Mesaros Gallery, Sept. 1 - Oct. 2

Legault, who is currently an electronic arts faculty member at the University of Ottawa, is interested in offering opportunities to listen and acknowledge sonic territories defined through the transformation of sound. Her installations activate the spectator and challenge their relation to sound by drawing attention towards the qualities of “noise” as a physical and temporal presence.

Dylan Collins

Sept. 24, 2015 | Exhibition in the Laura Mesaros Gallery, Sept. 1 - Oct. 2

Dylan Collins is fascinated by the quest for classification and organization inherent to the human-made world, especially as this need for order comes into conflict with the desires, foibles, and triumphs of our organic bodies. He uses fabrication techniques and meticulous craftsmanship to explore these interests. Dylan received his MFA from Kent State University and currently is coordinator of the sculpture program at West Virginia University.

Janet Koplos

Oct. 8, 2015 | Cynthia Myerberg Lecture

Koplos served as senior editor at the seminal Art in America magazine for 18 years, and continues to serve as a contributing editor. Founded in 1913, Art in America concentrates on the contemporary art world in the United States, with profiles of artists and genres. Koplos has also served as guest editor at American Craft magazine. In addition to her periodical work, Koplos has authored or coauthored several books, including “Makers: A History of American Studio Craft” and “Three Visions in Glass.” Her broad expertise encompasses architecture, design, American craft and folk art, contemporary Japanese art, Japanese folk art, and contemporary Dutch art.

John Pena

Oct. 15, 2015 | Exhibition in the Laura Mesaros Gallery, Oct. 15 - Dec. 9

John Pena is a multidisciplinary artist from the desert of Washington State. He makes art as a way of exploring the natural world and his daily interactions. A few of John's projects include: racing with clouds, sending a letter to the Pacific Ocean every day for the last twelve years, making daily drawings about his life and constructing large-scale word balloons that are precariously balanced on two-by-fours. He lives and works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Jen Mussari

Nov. 12, 2015 | Exhibition in the Paul Mesaros Gallery, Oct. 15 - Dec. 9

Jen Mussari is a jack of all trades and master of a couple. She is a lettering artist, illustrator, fine artist, designer, community member, dog sitter (prefers cats), collector of things, Tattly artist, sign painter, etc. A proud Philadelphian, she left her heart in Baltimore, had a quick love/hate fling with San Francisco, and now finds herself in the nurturing arms of Brooklyn. Some of the clients she has proudly collaborated with include Squarespace, Airbnb, Kickstarter, Shopify, Patagonia, the Art Director's Club, EMI, Capitol Records, Target, West Elm, Penguin Books, Adobe, LOGAN, Pentagram, 72andSunny, CreativeMornings, and Smilebooth.

Jason Freeny

Jan. 21, 2016 | Deem Distinguished Lecture

Freeny is the owner of the Moist Production Studio, which publishes and distributes his work. He’s best known for his anatomical art, where he produces cutaway drawings and sculptures of inanimate objects inspired by beloved toys and cartoon characters.

Conjunction: Projects by WVU School of Art & Design Faculty

Gallery talk on Jan. 28, 2016 | Exhibition in the Laura and Paul Mesaros Galleries through Feb. 26

Fourteen WVU School of Art & Design faculty members spent the past two years working with printmakers at Artists Image Resource (AIR) in Pittsburgh to produce original art projects. They displayed their interdisciplinary works at the Creative Arts Center’s Mesaros Galleries.

Ryan Clifford

Feb. 11, 2016

Clifford teaches graphic design at Iowa State University in the College of Design. He’s an advisor to Project M, an international social design initiative committed to helping young designers use their skills to create positive change in the world. Clifford’s recent work with Project M included work in Greensboro, Ala., and Belfast, Maine, where he led design intensive, community based social design blitzes.

Matthew Coolidge

April 7, 2016

Coolidge is the founder and director of the Center for Land Use Interpretation, an education and research organization based in Los Angeles. The Center takes a broadly interdisciplinary approach to the investigation of land use, drawing on the natural sciences, sociology, art, architecture, and history in order to increase and diffuse knowledge about how land in the United States is apportioned, utilized, and perceived.

David Wilkins

April 21, 2016 | J. Bernard Schultz Endowed Lecture in Art History

Wilkins, an expert in Italian Renaissance art will share insights from his remarkable career as a scholar and educator in a lecture at West Virginia University titled "Donatello and the Human Experience".