Faculty members in the College of Visual and Performing
Arts (VPA) and
SU in Florence (SUF) studio art professors
have collaborated on a faculty exhibition titled "Drawing
the Other: Works on Paper by SU and SUF Faculty." The
exhibition is open at the SUF Art Gallery in Florence, Italy,
through May 2.
With 32 faculty members participating, the exhibition is a
unique opportunity for the students at SUF to see the work
of their professors both in Florence and on the home
campus. Nearly 100 guests attended the exhibition's
opening on April 2, including a strong turnout of students in
the studio arts program. Casey Landerkin, a junior
illustration major, applauds the initiative: "To know that
your teachers are not just admirable as teachers but as
artists, too, is an empowering feeling. At the gallery
opening, I got to see the personal works of the people who I
am learning everything from, and I can see the bits and
pieces of knowledge and skill I have taken from each of
them and what I need to take from them next."
The idea for the exhibition was born during a visit to the
Syracuse campus by SUF Director Barbara Deimling and
SUF painting professor Kirsten Stromberg. In meetings with
faculty and staff at VPA, the two realized that a
collaborative exhibition would provide an opportunity for
fostering cross-campus communication and projects.
Returning to Florence, Deimling and Stromberg worked
together with exhibits coordinator Devorah Block to develop
a theme for the exhibition. VPA department chair Ludwig
K. Stein was instrumental in finalizing the details of the
project and enlisting the participation of his faculty.
"This exhibit aimed to promote dialogue and collaboration
between the Syracuse campuses through an artistic
exploration of cross-cultural experience," says Stromberg
about the conception of the exhibition. "As institutions
engaged in international education, these issues are
fundamental for us as faculty as well as for our students."
These goals are reiterated by Deimling: "This exhibition
invites the visitor to think critically about such diverse
themes as difference, integration, plurality, otherness and
movement-topics that are at the very core of international
education for faculty and students alike."
"The work in 'Drawing the Other' exemplifies the
interconnectedness of Syracuse and Florence and proves
that the SU faculty in both cities is thriving brilliantly," says
VPA Dean Ann Clarke, who also participated in the
exhibition as an artist.
