ARchiTecture:

College of Architecture Faculty Biennial 2009

March 26 - May 31

On your busy way somewhere else, take a left from the fountain or a right from the Flag Room. You will find yourself in vast galleries surrounded by the visual experiments of 24 artists from the new Visualization Department and the College of Architecture.

The advanced digital visualization curriculum of the Visualization Department inspires the work shown by its faculty: Ergun Akleman’s algorithmically-assisted caricatures; Joshua Bienko’s anamorphic self-portrait; photographer Howard Eilers’ studies of Texas skies; Karen Hillier’s multimedia installation based on memory; Bill Jenks plugged in ghost; Carol LaFayette’s stop action videos of spring floods on her land out past the edge of town; light artist Jill Mulholland’s path of glowing dichroic glass; facial animation pioneer Frederic Parke’s prints of images he made two decades ago; photographs of Paolo Piscitelli’s newly-dedicated sculpture on campus; Mary Ciani Saslow’s digital paintings from the series Map Mountain Moon; Glen Vigus’ photographic experiments in depth perception; and Yauger Williams’ (alias Lonysius Dionginus) invitation to fly.

From the Department of Architecture comes paintings and drawings, assemblage and collage: large, vivid oil paintings by artist Dick Davison of transitory water reflections and knotted yaupons outside his Brazos River studio window; Brian Dugan’s winged assemblages; Weiling He’s intimate water color confrontations with the Texas horizon; Rodney Hill’s full-scale elevation of his scepter design; the moving protest of Joan and Gerald Maffei’s Katrina collages; Robert Schiffhauer’s portraits from his Torch Bearers series; Phillip Tabb’s elegant pen and inks of mythic beings; and David Woodcock’s expert architectural perspective of Hawaii. Michael Murphy of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning shows hatched sketches of the Italy he wants to remember, and Gary Robin of the Center for Housing and Urban Development shows moody or detailed watercolors.

Study works intimate and huge; enter darkened chambers; write a comment in the guest book, take a catalogue with you. Come back later with a friend.

Entering its ninth year of production, the exhibition is a partnership between the Stark Galleries and the Texas A&M College of Architecture. It is in the galleries through the end of May.

Click here for examples of exhibited artwork.

"Study", Joshua Bienko, 2009

Student presenting artwork at Perspective 08'

Perspective 09':

Floral Art in Motion

April 23 - May 31

This innovative exhibition, organized for its seventeenth consecutive year by the Stark Galleries in collaboration with Texas A&M Horticulture professor James L. Johnson, features artwork created by students of Johnson's floral design course. This year, students are creating floral-inspired kinetic artwork, a difficult medium of art which depends on motion and movement for its effect.

In addition to teaching, Johnson has written numerous works on the art of floral design, and currently serves as the director and curator of the Benz School of Floral Design. His class admits students from a broad array of academic disciplines including engineering, architecture and horticulture; and provides them with a semester's worth of time and instruction to create artwork based on a particular theme. The structure of this unique class offers students a truly incomparable experience- to receive first hand instruction from a celebrated floral design expert, and to present and showcase their artwork in a professional venue.

According to Johnson, this year’s theme has pushed students to the limit, testing their artistic ability as much as their patience. “The very thought of creating ‘moving parts’ with dried flowers and leaves is pretty scary! Are we crazy?” he mused. “Can this stiff and curled up dry leaf be bent to a new purpose? Color! Color is considerably muted in natural dried material…Movement! Will the natural air currents be strong enough? Transportation! How can they get their mobile delivered from the Horticulture Buildingto the Stark Galleries? Will it break? What if it falls apart in the gallery? Obviously, the concepts of balance, proportion and suitability take on new meaning.”

The opening of the exhibition will be celebrated with a food and beverage reception on Thursday, April 23 at 6:30 pm at the Stark Galleries, where the students will present and describe their artwork. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend, and no reservations are required.

After Perspective 09' leaves the Stark Galleries at the end of May, it will continue showing at the Benz Gallery of Floral Art, located on the Texas A&M campus, in the atrium of the Horticulture/Forest Science Building. For more information on the Benz Gallery, please call (979) 845-1699.

Visit our special events page to learn more about events featuring these exhibitions.

Upcoming Exhibitions