offside this Issue:

‘Senior Show’ Humble Beginnings” Exhibition

by Kara Crowley—Closing Ceremony, Friday, January 27, 2017

5:30pm—7:00pm | Administrative Building Gallery

1

Congratulations! Nicholas Davison, Art Major

Summer Internship with “The New York Times”

Student Journalism Institute Class of 2017

2

Message from Dr. C. Reynold Verret, Xavier University President

Shares “The New York Times” piece entitled:

“America’s Great Working Class Colleges” by David Leonhardt

3

Congratulations Art Majors! Adam Albrecht, Nicholas Davison,

and Leland Johnson recognized in the “chronical of the nation’s

outstanding leaders” 2017 Edition of “Who’s Who

Among Students in American Colleges & Universities”

3

Shayna Blum, Art Department Head & Assistant Professor

of Graphic Design Awarded a Mellon Mini Grant Fall 2016

Research: Bilingual & Multilingual Typography

in the Linguistic Landscape of Israeli Urban Communications

Congratulations! Adam Albrecht, Research Assistant

4

“Building Community through the Arts” Professor Ron Bechet,

Xavier University & Professor Barbara Hayley, Tulane University 4

ANTENNA::SIGNALS ISSUE.004 “Terraformation:

Working the Elements as Creative Practice” features Presentation:

“Ceramic Architecture in Ghana” by Professor MaPo Kinnord

5

Jennifer Odem, Sculptor & XU Sculpture Instructor Visits

Chinatown Foundation; The Rauschenberg Foundation Residency;

and the McNay Art Museum for Research

6

The

Gestalt

Department of Art Newsletter

The Department of Art

The Art Village

John T. Scott Sculpture Garden

3520 Pine Street

Business Mailing Address

Xavier University of Louisiana

1 Drexel Drive

New Orleans, LA 70125

Phone: 504-520-7556

Fax: 504-520-7949 Stay connected @ArtXULA: www.xula.edu/art

Issue

February

2017

*Reminder! Art Majors

Mandatory Annual Reviews

Digital Portfolio & Video Presentation

Submission Deadline March 10, 2017

‘Senior Show’ “Humble Beginnings” Exhibition by‘ Kara Crowley Closing Ceremony—Friday, January 27th

5:30pm—7pm Xavier University Administrative Building Gallery

Photos by Kara Crowley, Art Major & Joan Ulmer ‘85, Administrative Assistant

Narrative Courtesy of Dr. Mark Gstohl

Xavier University “Black History Month Convocation”

XU Convocation Center— February 21, 2017—12:15pm

XULA Spring Break...

Mardi Gras Holidays

February 27—March 3, 2017

About The Institute

“During the Institute, students are working journalists supervised by reporters and editors

from The New York Times. Institute graduates now work at major news organizations

including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and dozens

of midsize news organizations.”

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Davison, & text featured in “The New York Times”

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByGLGK7tGl05Rkk5WE1QUElxVTg/view

http://nytimes-institute.com/

Nicholas Davison, Art Major

Xavier University of Louisiana Department of Art www.xula.edu/art

Summer Internship...

The Gesta l t Page 2

February 2017

The Gesta l t Page 3

February 2017

Xavier University of Louisiana Department of Art www.xula.edu/art

Photos Courtesy of the ‘Honorees’

Congratulations! Adam Albrecht, Nicholas Davison, and Leland Johnson

Art Majors recognized in the “chronical of the nation’s outstanding leaders”

2017 Edition of “Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges & Universities”...

Excerpt: Message from Dr. C. Reynold Verret, President of Xavier University of Louisiana:

“This week afforded tangible validation to the world and to us. The “New York Times”

published a piece entitled “America’s Great Working Class Colleges”, by author David Leonhardt, exam-

ines colleges and universities that promote socioeconomics mobility in American society. The study

shows that or university ranks #6 in the entire country for social mobility and transformation of students.”

Photo & Excerpt: Office of the President

Graphic, Xavier University of Louisiana Alumni Relations

Xavier University of Louisiana Depart-

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February 2017

Professor Ron Bechet, Xavier University of Louisiana & Professor Barbara Hayley,

Tulane University Co-Hosts Class in the “John T. Scott Sculpture Garden” in The Art Village…

Excerpts: Syllabus Spring 2017

Photo by Joan Ulmer ‘85, Administrative Assistant

“Building Community through the Arts”

Place: Xavier Art Village and McWilliams Hall, Tulane

Course Description:

The course examines arts-based community action and reviews case studies of local, regional, national and

international examples of innovation in building community. This Spring 2017 will partner with New Orleans

arts and community revitalization organizations for the community engagement (service-learning) part of the

course (20 hours with a variety of partners). The course is open to students of all disciplines. It is an elective

for dance majors. Junior or Senior standing preferred.

Shayna Blum, Art Department Head & Assistant Professor of Graphic Design

Awarded a Mellon Mini Grant Fall 2016 Research: Bilingual & Multilingual Typography in the Linguistic Landscape of Israeli Urban Communities...

“Linguistic landscape is the visual language within public spaces and is comprised of typographic design; road signs, street

signs, shop signs, packaging, brand identity, and advertisement. In 2014, I began researching the linguistic landscape

of Israeli urban communities. As a country with two official languages, Hebrew and Arabic, and one semi-official language,

English; bilingual and multilingual typographic design is common within the visual landscape of the country.

“The research method for this project is primarily a qualitative approach in gathering information via literary resources,

interviews,, discussions, environmental experience/travel, and photographic analysis.

Congratulations! Adam Albrecht, Art Major (Senior) whose focus is visual communication/graphic will assist in the

research and publication process as a Research Assistant. Mr. Albrecht will accompany Ms. Blum to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem

Summer 2017 to continue research and expand his knowledge of visual language and typography by studying Semitic

and Latin letterforms used in the English language and integration in visual context.

Photos & text courtesy of Shayna Blum, Art Department Head

Terraformation: Working the Elements as Creative Practice

Featuring: Jenny Ellerbe (on the Poverty Point indigenous earth works), Sula Janet Evans (musical performance

+ presentation on the ritual properties of the elements), Gary King (on terraforming Mars with microbiology),

MaPo Kinnord (on ceramic architecture in Ghana), Kristina Kay Robinson (reading a piece on magic

revolutionary gardening in a small Louisiana village),Elizabeth Seleen (on archaeology as People's History),

and Jackie Sumell(on imaging a landscape without prisons), and Lorna Williams (on her creative practice),

MC: the unstoppable Owen Ever

$10 (Free for Signals subscribers | Subscribe here:http://www.antenna.works/subscribe/)

For more information, call Antenna: 504-298-3161

Terraforming (literally, "Earth-shaping") of a planet, moon or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately

modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be similar to the environment of Earth

to make it habitable by Earth-like life.

Antenna::Signals Issue::004 is an investigation into humankind’s manipulation of earth, water, air, fire, and metal as

a creative, architectural, spiritual, or social practice. The event will explore variations on this theme through a spread

of presentations including: the archaeology of Storyville; “terraforming” as science fiction or future science?; archaic

indigenous earthworks in Poverty Point, LA; and Solitary Gardens' approach to gardening as radical practice to help

the public imagine a landscape without prisons.

Issue::004 of Antenna::Signals takes its inspiration from Antenna’s January exhibition, “Congregation”,

featuring ceramics artists Rachael DePauw, Miki Glasser, Sarah House, Nikki Jackson, and MaPo Kinnord.

The exhibition highlights the influence of Alligator Clay, a Baton Rouge-based clay distributor that was

devastated by the August 2015 SE Louisiana floods, on ceramicists and potters in the Southeast United

States.

Conceived as a “live arts magazine,” Antenna::Signals is a new sort of variety show by the artists and writers

of Antenna. Each “issue” of Antenna::Signals features a spread of 6-8 local artists, writers, musicians, scientists,

activists and scholars whose practices relate thematically. The live magazine drops 4 times each year, accompanied

by the release of a two-dimensional print publication.

ANTENNA::SIGNALS

ISSUE.004 features MaPo Kinnord, Associate Professor of Art

Presentation: Ceramic Architecture in Ghana

Tuesday January 31, 2017

6:30pm—9pm

Xavier University of Louisiana Department of Art www.xula.edu/art

Antenna::Signals Event Information provided by MaPo Kinnord, Associated Professor of Art

The Gesta l t Page 5

February 2017

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February 2017

Photos and text by Jennifer Odem, Sculptor & Instructor

Xavier University of Louisiana Department of Art www.xula.edu/art

“Invited by Deborah Luster

& The Rauschenberg Foundation

Residency to Collaborate...

on a large-scale installation in Captiva, Fl.

My part of the collaboration included making sculptural

molds and castings. Robert Rauschenberg's twenty-acre

estate on Captiva Island, Florida, which was his home

and studio for forty years, has been transformed into

a creative center that welcomes artists from around the

world to live, work, and create.

The residency advances new work, extends practices into

new mediums, and serves as a research and development

lab for performance-based projects; it fosters the ideal that

artistic practice advances mutual understanding;

and it engenders a focus on the conservation

of a sensitive and pristine environment.”

Jennifer Odem, Sculptor & XU Sculpture Studio Instructor Conducts Research

Minimalist Sculpture, Chinatown Foundation Contemporary Museum

"The Chinati Foundation” a contemporary art museum founded by the artist Donald Judd and based

on his ideas for establishing a unique kind of museum. The collection includes work by thirteen artists and

focuses on permanent, large-scale installations emphasizing the relationship between art, architecture, and

the surrounding land."

“Research also included a visit

to the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, TX.

The McNay Art Museum, founded in 1954 in San Antonio, is the first modern art museum

in the U.S. State of Texas. Attached is a painting by Jacob Lawrence from the McNay Collection.”