Visual Culture Lecture Series 2024 - 2025
All events are free and open to the public
The Visual Culture Lecture Series is sponsored by College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences John & Mary Gonska Cultural Fund, the Department of Art & Design, and the Tweed Museum of Art.
Spring semester 2025
Tuesday April 8, 2025 | ASE Juror | Teréz Iacovino | 6pm in Montague 80
Teréz Iacovino is an artist, educator, and the assistant curator of the Katherine E. Nash Gallery, operated by the Department of Art at the University of Minnesota. Her curatorial practice is continually shaped by the artists she works with, the students she mentors, and her experience as a Latina and first-generation graduate working in academia. Iacovino is the recipient of a Curatorial Research Fellowship Grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and is a 2024 National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Leadership Institute Fellow. Recent publications include “Unpacking the Portmanteau: Locating Diasporican Art” as part of Nuyorican & Diasporican Visual Art: A Critical Anthology (Duke University Press) Iacovino is currently investigating Puerto Rican artistic practices across the archipelago and its diaspora in collaboration with independent curator José López Serra. Their research will culminate in the upcoming exhibition, El Vaivén: 21st Century Art of Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora, on view at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery, September 9 - December 6, 2025.
Tuesday April 15, 2024 | ASE Juror | Neva Corbo-Hudak | 6pm on zoom
Neva has been advocating for user-centered design for over twenty years and is dedicated to exploring user needs and translating them into compelling solutions. A Boston native, she received a BA in Music from Bates College and an MFA in graphic design from RIT. She cut her teeth at a boutique design studio, creating meaningful design and brand experiences for a variety of clients and then ventured out on her own to build a successful, independent business focused on crafting human-centered experiences across disciplines, including UX, UI, brand, and environmental design. After over a decade of entrepreneurship, Neva joined Boston University's Development Communications team as assistant director of digital content & design, focused on designing and deploying multimedia products to educate, solicit, and steward donors. Neva joined Wayfair in 2019 where she led experience design for the Homebase Design System team, managing and evolving the Android, iOS, and Web component libraries, design tokens and themes, system documentation, contribution, and governance. She currently works at Block driving strategy and design for Square's Market Design System, which supports all seller-facing products and surface areas.
Tuesday January 28, 2025 | Brian Lutz| Graphic Design | 6pm in Montague 80
Brian Lutz is an illustrator and educator who lives and works in Connecticut. He has had the pleasure of working with clients like TIME Magazine, New York Magazine/Vulture, Entertainment Weekly, Los Angeles Times, POLITICO, ProPublica, Coastal Living Magazine, Toy Machine Skateboards, and many others. His work has been recognized by American Illustration, Communication Arts, Applied Arts, 3x3 Magazine, Creative Quarterly, and Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles. In 2020 he obtained his MFA from the University of Hartford where he has since joined the faculty as an adjunct professor teaching illustration. He loves to experiment with a combination of traditional and digital media. When not working on assignments, Lutz takes on personal projects to keep his skills sharp. He lives to draw and hopes to work with you soon!
https://lutzillo.com/
CANCELED: Tuesday March 18,2025 | Panel | Kathy McTavish, Mags David and Ian Moore | 6pm in Montague 80 | The Thought Machine: An Artist Residency at the Kathryn A. Martin Library
Fall Semester 2024
Tuesday October 15, 2024 | Alumni Panel | Art Education BFA Majors | 6pm in Montague 80
Rob Quisling
In the last 30 years as an artist I've created work around mental health issues, neighborhoods, sport, play, and knots with a continuous thread of exploring how people make and sustain connections.
My connections to our art community started with an exhibit at the Duluth Art Institute in 1997 called Neighborhoods. Since then, as I met and worked with more and more artists, I discovered that we are all trying to solve a riddle or process information by making images. Our museum directors, gallery owners, teachers, patrons, and artists have encouraged me to use this way of thinking for the good. Since then I have been supported to go back to school and become an art teacher myself. By using our shared language about images and symbols I have a great tool for overcoming hurdles. I can always count on reinforcement and developmental progress from my fellow artists and they also help change the way we see.
Christina Boynton
I teach elementary visual art in beautiful Duluth, Minnesota. I received my degree and teaching license from the University of Minnesota Duluth, and received my Masters in Art Education from Eastern Illinois University. Overall, I have over 10 years of experience teaching K-12th grade students. I had a 6 year pause from teaching to raise my two wonderful daughters who I stayed home with and I will always cherish that time I had with them during their early years. As an educator my goal is to inspire and nurture creative thinking in children. My students come to art class excited and ready to jump into projects because they know they will be able to experiment, get messy and use their creative energy. I believe art is an essential part of a child's education and I strive to provide a quality art education for all students.
Chrissy Valento
Chrissy Valento is from Blaine, MN, but attended the U of Minnesota-Duluth, and has now lived in Duluth for over 35 years. Chrissy has two grown children, both in college, and is married to Rick Valento, who is a mental health therapist. Chrissy has been teaching for over 30 years, and has taught all grades preK-12, adults via Community Education and the Duluth Folk School, special education at Woodland Hills Academy and preschool aged children at the Benedictine Development Preschool. Chrissy’s passions lie with children, the arts, and travel.
Lucas Anderson
I make Functional Ceramic Art on my pottery wheel. The Art I create stems inspirationally from my time teaching Art & Design in South Korea. I fell in love with the approach and style of visual art there, and became passionate about ceramics and kimchi. Korea is a land where ancient traditions blend with contemporary expressions both through food and visual art aesthetics. My work reflects this influence in a uniquely individual way. The style, size, and function of my work reflects my connection to the North Shore of Lake Superior. These mugs embody the essence of my work using Driftwood handle systems for some and crafting Chawan (handleless tea cups) for others.
Please enjoy & check out my Fermentation Vessels!
Instagram:@tamarack_ceramics
Tuesday October 1, 2024 | Adrien Segal | Sculptor | 6pm in Montague 80
Adrien Segal is an artist based in Oakland, California. Drawing from landscape, science, history, emotion, and perception, her interdisciplinary work bridges the gap between scientifi c rationality and the emotional nature of human experience. Her work has been exhibited internationally since 2007 and is published in several books and journals. She has been awarded Artist Residencies across the US, Canada, and Europe, and was the US-UK Fulbright Scholar at the University of Dundee in 2022. Adrien teaches art and design at the University of San Francisco and at California College of the Arts where she received her BFA, and she works out of a shared workshop in Alameda, California.
Tuesday September 17, 2024 | Dawn Mikkelson | Film Maker | 6pm in Montague 80
3-time Emmy Award winning producer, and 2010 McKnight Filmmaking Fellow, Dawn Mikkelson’s work has broadcast and screened internationally. 2023/2024 American Film Diplomacy Program (US State Department & USC School of Cinematic Arts) participant and finalist of the Project Greenlight Digital Studios and Seed&Spark Untold Story Crowdfunding Rally, festival screenings of Mikkelson's films include: Doc Edge, Cinequest, DOC NYC, Cucalorus, Sound Unseen, Newport Beach Film Festival, and Mill Valley Film Festival. Broadcast includes PBS and the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). Mikkelson has completed seven award-winning independent feature documentaries, Minnesota Mean (2023), Finding Her Beat (2022), Risking Light (2018), The Red Tail (2009), Green Green Water (2007), THIS obedience (2003), and Treading Water: a documentary (1999).
Thursday November 21, 2024 | William Franklin | Art History | 6pm in Montague 80
William "Billy" Gustavo Franklin (he/him/his) is an educator and an independent art curator. Franklin has curated more than a dozen exhibits locally and served as panelist reviewing applications for grants and artist-in-residence programs. He earned a Master of Liberal Studies with a minor in Art History from the University of Minnesota, his thesis work focused on the international scope of Surrealism. He is co-curator of the exhibit Latina and Latinx Minnesota: Re/claiming Space in Times of Change taking place at The Catherine G. Murphy Gallery at St. Catherine University until December 8 2024. He teaches history of art and design, criticism and theory at the Minneapolis College of Art and at Dunwoody College of Technology. Franklin is a part-time Educator at the Walker Art Center and a contributing writer for the local Spanish newspaper La Voz Latina.