Barbara Bondy, Assistant Professor in the Department of Art, received an MFA in fine art at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. She received a BFA in visual art at the University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada and a diploma in Photography at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario.

Her interests in science, art and philosophy inform her creative research which is directed primarily toward exploring mind and brain matters through the mediums of drawing and photography. She is the recipient of an Alabama State Council on the Arts Fellowship and has exhibited her work throughout the U.S. and Canada. This summer, she lived in her exhibit "Night Tracks, Day Tracks," in Columbus State University's art gallery while displaying a series of drawings and photographs exploring dualities of night and day as metaphors for conscious and non-conscious states.

Her nightly tossing and turning on a small mattress hidden behind a wall inside the factory-turned-Columbus State University art gallery figured prominently in her exhibit "Night Tracks, Day Tracks," a series of drawings and photographs exploring dualities of night and day as metaphors for conscious and non-conscious states.

Her exhibit at CSU certainly redefined summer studio residencies. Bondy moved into the Norman Shannon and Emmy Lou P. Illges Gallery, located in downtown Columbus, and stayed here for all of June and the first week of July. The gallery served as her studio and as a stage of sorts for performance art.

When Bondy completed her work each day, she would retreat to her small sleeping area hidden behind a wall inside the gallery. Given the fact that two security lights remained on at all times, piercing the darkness, she sometimes found sleep to be a precious commodity.

"It was not comfortable," Bondy said on the last day of her exhibit. "It was definitely hard. I brought in a chair, but I was on the floor a lot or working on the sketching, reading, drawing, or making. It was so unnatural, but it was such a fertile ground. I kept saying to people -- this is Utopia."

In many ways, the monastic setting proved to be ideal for her concepts. What better way to unlock the mysteries of the human than in most silent and solitary confinement?

One work, in particular, that captured the theme of the exhibit was "This and That," which featured interlocking tracings of the words in black and white on a narrow, 30-foot long piece of Stonehenge paper. In order to work with such long and large mediums, Bondy often had to finish her work from near ceiling level, high atop a scissor lift.

The National Academy Museum presents its non-member invitational exhibiton every two years, showcasing contemporary works by approximately 125 prominent artists from across the country.

The artists whose works are on display through Sept 7. were selected from among more than 400 nominees. The Alden Bryant Award is one of the top three awards for works on display in the exhibition.

The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in 1825 to promote American art, presents a regular schedule of exhibitions of art and architecture, as well as educational programs.

Lewis, who teaches painting and drawing in the Department of Art, has also taught at Darmouth College and Cornell University.

His artworks have been exhibited in galleries and museums nationally and internationally and are in public and corporate collections across the United States and private colleges in the U.S. and Europe. He holds M.F.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Iowa.

Auburn University, College of Liberal Arts, Department of Art announces The B.F.A. in Fine Arts Candidates Senior Project Exhibition to be held at Biggin Gallery, 101 Biggin Hall. The exhibition which opens Tuesday, November 27 runs through December 7; the public is invited to attend the opening reception which will occur just outside the gallery entrance on Tuesday, November 27 from 4 p.m. through 6 p.m..

The exhibition features ceramic work by Chad Nelson, Michael Tablada and Stephen Coombs, painting by Angela Truffa and digital photography by John Hosmer. The subject matter explored by the B.F.A. candidates includes: color as a means to evoke an uplifting experience in a viewer; emotional experience and its relationship to facial expression and facades; the manifestation of characteristics of social and psychological disorders through artistic process; and, a metaphorical reference to clear-cutting the land as a means to comment on societal preoccupations with the idealization of the human body through cosmetic surgery.

Biggin Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by appointment (334-844-3483). Biggin Gallery is free of admission, wheelchair accessible and open to the public. For more information contact Barb Bondy, exhibitions and lectures coordinator, department of art, 334-844-3483 or bondybj@auburn.edu.

October 30-November 12, 2007

Selections from the Auburn University Sculpture ProgramThe Department of Art welcomes you to an opening reception for “Selections from the Auburn University Sculpture Program," an exhibition of sculpture by Auburn University art students.

Opening Reception: October 30, 2007, 5-7pm

The exhibition is on view October 30 through November 12, 2007 at Opelika Arts Association Gallery, 1032 South Railroad Avenue, Opelika

Gallery Hours: Monday to Friday, 10am-12pm, 1-3pm (CDT)

For more information, please contact Christopher McNulty, Associate Professor, Department of Art, 334.844.5267

October 18, 2007

The College of Liberal Arts, Department of Art announces the second talk in this semester's ARTXTRA series. ARTXTRA is a monthly forum directed toward art students but open to all AU students and faculty who are interested in dialogue beyond the classroom.

This month's forum occurs on Thursday, October 18 at 5 pm in room 005 Biggin Hall with documentary photographer Chris Walker as the featured guest speaker.

Students can visit Walker's website at www.chriswalkerphoto.com to view his photographic work and to learn more about the photographer.

Chris Walker grew up on a small farm outside of rural Croswell, Michigan where his parents instilled in him a near-reverent appreciation for the land and its natural inhabitants. Today, he navigates the fields of art and journalism with a unique perspective that is underscored with deep concerns for social anthropology and the environment.

Walker has worked for publications ranging from "The Associated Press" and "The New York Times" to "Scientific American" and "New Mexico Wildlife" magazines among many others. His exhibition record includes the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the Center for Contemporary Photography, the Texas Artists' Museum, the Toledo Museum of Art, and the Museum of Anthropology at California State University at Chico.

In 1995, the Ernst Haas Awards named Chris Walker to their annual list of the world's top 100 emerging photographers for his "Six Nights A Year" photo project, a social documentary that explores life under the lights of the Midwest's county fairs.

Walker served five years as a general assignment photographer for "The Blade" newspaper in Toledo, Ohio. In 2000, he and two co-workers from the paper were awarded a finalist position in the Pulitzer Awards for a story exposing the Brush Wellman Corporation and the U.S. government for knowingly subjecting defense contract workers to Beryllium dust, an airborne human carcinogen.

Walker joined Auburn University as a new faculty member this semester in the department of Communication and Journalism. He received his Master of Fine Arts from the Department of Cinema and Photography at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale in 2002.

For more information contact Barb Bondy, exhibitions and lectures coordinator, 844-3483 or bondybj@auburn.edu.

Through November 2, 2007

Julia Kjelgaard working on CosmosAuburn University, College of Liberal Arts, Department of Art announces the opening of “Indo Indicia” in Biggin Gallery, 101 Biggin Hall. The exhibition which runs through November 2 features a series of large digital prints on canvas that have been painted and embroidered. A wall work, entitled “Cosmos” spans an area of six feet by eleven feet and incorporates drawing with various shaped circular digital prints resulting in a sculptural wall. Kjelgaard completed “Cosmos” on-site in Biggin Gallery.

Julia Kjelgaard, whose work is supported in part by a University Research Grant from Emory University and by the Fulbright Research Scholar Program, traveled to Tibet in 2002 and lived in India for five months in 2005; she has recently returned from India where she developed many of the works exhibited in “Indo Indicia.”

Kjelgaard’s works are meditations on Indian culture and thought patterns. In her Tibet series, she explores both the exotic and the common, pairing fragments of scenes from Tibet with patterns that are derived from the pixelization of common Western fabrics.

Julia Kjelgaard holds a B.A. from the University of California at Santa Barbara, studied printmaking at the University of Alberta, Canada, and holds an M.F.A. from the University of Michigan (1987). Her prints and paintings have been included in numerous national and international exhibitions including England, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Poland, Taiwan, and Yugoslavia.

She has been awarded a number of grants and fellowships including an Alabama State Council on the Arts Fellowship and a Hambidge Fellowship. Her work is included in many collections some of which include the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, the Huntsville Museum of Art, the Kala Institute and the Moscow studio.

Julia Kjelgaard, a recent Fulbright Scholar, will present an artist talk on Thursday, November 1st at 4:30 p.m. in 005 Biggin Hall. A reception for the artist will follow in Biggin foyer.

Biggin Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by appointment (334-844-3483). Biggin Gallery is free of admission, wheelchair accessible and open to the public. For more information contact Barb Bondy, exhibitions and lectures coordinator, department of art, 334-844-3483 or bondybj@auburn.edu.

September 19, 2007

The College of Liberal Arts, Department of Art announces the second season of ARTXTRA, a monthly forum directed toward art students but open to all AU students who are interested in dialogue beyond the classroom. The monthly forum is geared toward art topics, however, the extra-curricular events, which include special lectures, discussions, debates, workshops, video screenings and more, generate dialogue that transcends art creating interest for a broad interdisciplinary audience.

“I was hoping with the introduction of ARTXTRA that we would create a dynamic collaborative experience that extended beyond the walls of the classroom for students and faculty,” says Allyson Comstock, acting department head and founder of ARTXTRA. And it has proved to be so; the first semester of ARTXTRA was well attended by students and faculty from within the art department and from the region. Discussion ensued for nearly three hours in one session.

This year’s forum begins on Wednesday, September 19 at 5 pm in room 005 Biggin Hall with Anthony Faris and Bryan Ghiloni, executive directors and co-founders of Gallery RFD (www.galleryrfd.org), Swainsboro, GA.

The non-profit organization promotes economic enrichment in the rural community of Swainsboro through the arts. Gallery RFD hosts twelve original art exhibitions a year exploring diverse, challenging, and pertinent subject matter. In addition, the gallery also plans art exhibitions, live music, and art activities for an Art Stroll event held annually in downtown Swainsboro. The gallery creates original educational programming for elementary and middle school students and develops county-wide outreach projects focused on promoting rural communities and the arts.

Ghiloni and Faris will talk about how and why they started Gallery RFD. James Anthony Faris is an artist living in Swainsboro, GA. In 2002, he co-founded Stillmoreroots, an arts advocacy group, while still a photography student at the Savannah College of Art and Design. After graduation in 2003, he traveled extensively across the U.S and visited South America. He is currently Education and Outreach Director for Gallery RFD and is working to promote the arts throughout the Southeast. Mr. Faris is a photographer, writer, installation artist, and creates rural constructions.

Timothy Bryan Ghiloni was born and raised in Newark, Ohio, just outside of Columbus. After high school, Bryan attended college at Columbus State where he studied Graphic Communications for a year and a half. Discouraged by the lack of creativity involved in this field of study, he transferred schools. In 1998 he began attending the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, where he found his calling as a photographer. Bryan graduated in 2002 with dual B.F.A.s in Photography and Graphic Design, achieving honors in each. After graduation he moved to New York City where he freelanced and worked with some of the most influential photographers in the medium such as Joyce Tenneson and Arnold Newman.

Over the course of Bryan's young career as an artist, he has shown in over 30 exhibitions including four solo shows. Timothy Bryan Ghiloni is also heavily involved with his artist collective, the Stillmoreroots group. Recently, the group has relocated to Swainsboro, Georgia where they are working with numerous community and arts organizations in order to build community and economy through art-related programming.

The next segment of ARTXTRA will occur on October 18th at 5 pm to 7 pm when documentary photographer Chris Walker will discuss his photographic work (www.chriswalkerphoto.com). Walker is a new faculty member who joined Auburn University this semester. One of his ongoing documentary projects involves photographic portraits taken at state fairs; the body of work is titled, “Six Nights A Year.”

For more information contact Barb Bondy, exhibitions and lectures coordinator, 844-3483 or bondybj@auburn.edu.

August 2007

Zdenko Krtic, associate professor of art, and his wife, Magdalena Garmaz, associate professor of architecture, will be in residency at the American Academy in Rome, Italy, in December. Krtic, who was invited as a visiting artist, and Garmaz as a visiting scholar, will spend two weeks at the academy developing their research and creative agendas while using the academy's exceptional location and resources.

Krtic will work on a series of prints and drawings, using the city as a lab. His work will focus on the changing relationships between temporary constructs, such as scaffolding, and permanent architectural and artistic monuments in the urban environment, and the way these temporary fixtures alter the viewer's perception.

The American Academy in Rome is one of the leading American over-seas centers for independent study and advanced research in the fine arts and the humanities.