News

Extravagant traditions: Museum explores the homecoming mum through photography exhibit

The Port Arthur News - An art exhibit at Lamar University is spotlighting the bigger and better tradition of the not-so-humble Texas mum. Read More


Putting Art at the Center of Learning with STEAM

Lamar University took STEM curriculum and placed ‘art’ back at the center of learning with the STEAM Summer Art Camp, an intensive week of exciting hands-on integrated learning activities and art projects for students who are entering 9th through 12th grades. Through the STEAM mindset, 15 students from Beaumont, Winnie, Nederland, and Port Neches were taught that art and design are essential components to understanding the world.

During the week, students participated in three classes: introduction to 3-D printing, printmaking, and mixed media. They started each day with photography lab and collaborative learning sessions addressing the importance of art as a discipline and its many interdisciplinary connections. Read More.


After School Special: Dishman Art Museum Hosts First Juried Alumni Art Exhibit

Lamar University will showcase the art of its alumni in its first-ever juried show for LU alumni. After School Special: The Lamar University First Juried Alumni Art Exhibition will run from June 15 to August 3. The exhibition celebrates the 35th anniversary of the Dishman Art Museum. Read More.


 

Art Students Benefit from new Mary Jo Lampson Broussard Ford Scholarship

Students pursuing majors in Lamar University’s Department of Art in the College of Fine Arts and Communication will benefit from the newly established Mary Jo Lampson Broussard Ford Scholarship in Art. The scholarship was created through the generosity of Joseph Broussard IV and Katherine Broussard.

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3D printing marries high tech and tradition

The advent of affordable 3D printing has taken the fields of engineering and science by storm with its ability to create complex models used for everything from aerospace to biomedical devices. That same technology is also fueling a revolution in art and design.

At Lamar University, 3D printers are found not only in the College of Engineering, but also in the Department of Art and the numbers and uses are growing. Helping with acquiring the technology was a grant from LU’s Center for Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship. The department now has four 3D printers, as well as specialized furniture to house them. Read more.


New art scholarship established

Students in Lamar University's Department of Art will benefit from the recent agreement to begin the Merle Merritt Booker Scholarship in Art. The first award will be given in fall of 2016 to financially support a deserving art student towards his or her educational goals.

Merle Booker is a native of Beaumont, graduated Beaumont High School and went on to Lamar State College, where she received her bachelor’s degree in commercial art in 1958. At Lamar, she was active in the Student Government Association and the Alpha Chi Omega sorority. Booker later owned a successful antique and collectible business in Beaumont. Read more.


LU sculpture and 3D printing study abroad in Germany

Kurt Dyrhaug study abroad trip in Germany summer 2016

Professor Kurt Dyrhaug is teaching a study abroad course on sculpture, 3D printing and cast iron, July 24-Aug. 15, in Hilmsen, Germany, with students participating from Lamar University and Baylor University. In addition to living and working at the artists' residency Atelierhaus Hilmsen, students will also visit Hamburg, Berlin and Dessau. On Saturday, Aug. 6, they performed an iron pour for residents of Hilmsen and surrounding communities. Check out these great photos from the event! Photography by Jürgen Bode.


Visiting sculpture artist lecture and patina demonstration on April 22

Cactus Crew by Robbie BarberThe department will host a visiting sculpture artist lecture and demonstration on April 22 with Robbie Barber, associate professor of sculpture at Baylor University. Barber will lead a patina demo at 3:30 p.m. on April 22, 2016, in Art 106. His lecture will be at 5:30 p.m. in the Dishman Art Museum Lecture Hall.

Barber received his B.F.A. in Sculpture from East Carolina University and an M.F.A. in Sculpture from the University of Arizona. He also studied in Cortona, Italy, through the University of Georgia Studies Abroad Program. In 2007, Barber was a founding member of the Texas Atomic Iron Commission, comprised of sculpture educators dedicated to the dissemination of iron casting as an approach to art making.


LU painting and drawing students exhibit artwork in Houston

San Jacinto show cardDepartment of Art students will exhibit their work in the 3-person show, "Lamar University: Drawing and Painting the Human Figure," at Galeria del Norte in the Grant Fine Arts Center on the campus of San Jacinto Community College North in Houston. The show runs March 11 through April 8, 2016, with an opening reception on March 11 from 6 to 8 p.m.

LU student artists participating in the show are Grace Chadwick, specializing in painting, from Port Arthur; Travis Walthall, drawing, Lumberton; and Mary Wilbur, drawing, Beaumont. Read more...


Outdoor artwork by Prince Thomas permanently exhibited in Houston

The city of Houston recently installed a billboard-sized work of art by Prince Varughese Thomas, associate professor in Lamar University's Department of Art. Located on Jackson Street near Minute Maid Park “Family Portraits,” is a permanent installation commissioned by the Houston Art Alliance.

“I was thrilled to be selected to have my work displayed for the public,” said Thomas. “As an artist, that is our primary goal: to get our work to the public. The location is just perfect for high pedestrian traffic, especially during the Major League Baseball season.”

Thomas created “Family Portraits” to reveal different bits of information from various viewing distances. From far away, viewers see a picture of the family from the television show “Father Knows Best,” which represents the traditional American family of the past. As the viewer walks closer to the artwork, the picture, which is composed of large half-tone dots, “disintegrates” into basic circles. Read more...


Visiting Artist Lecture: Katherine Brimberry

BrimberryThe Department of Art presents a visiting artist lecture with Katherine Brimberry, master printer at Flatbed Press in Austin. A fine art printmaker, Brimberry uses a collaborative, non-toxic approach to a variety of printmaking methods which includes intaglio, relief and monotyping. Admission is free and open to the public.

Brimberry is co-founder and co-owner of Flatbed Press, a fine-art publishing studio of etchings, lithographs, relief prints and monotypes. As master printer at the studio, she is in charge of collaboration and production of artist projects. Her expertise is in the collaboration phase of projects, where she works as technical collaborator with artists such as Terry Allen, Michael Ray Charles, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Melissa Miller, James Surls and Julie Speed, among others. In the winter of 2010-11, the Austin Museum of Art produced the exhibit "Advancing Tradition: Twenty Years of Printmaking at Flatbed Press." In her own work, Brimberry uses the intaglio printmaking techniques to explore private and universal metaphors.


LU art students work at annual Keen Foundry symposium

Four LU art students assisted at the Keen Foundry Invitational Symposium 2016 in February 2016. They were Brian Buckalew (sculpture), Lacey Wolgast (sculpture), Billie Rose Smith (sculpture) and Dusti Brothers (graphic design). Our students assisted 10 sculptors from Alaska, Kentucky, New Mexico, Texas and Wyoming. 


Dyrhaug installs work at Sculpture for All exhibition

Kurt sculptureKurt Dyrhaug, professor of art, was recently featured on the front page of The Daily Sentinel of Nacogdoches as he installed his work for the Sculpture For All exhibition at Stephen F. Austin State University. Ten works were selected from a pool of more than 125 entries from California to New York. Dyrhaug's sculpture, "Sensor Device #2," will be on display through 2017. Read more...


John Alexander Painting Studio dedicated Oct. 8

The Department of Art at Lamar University honored internationally celebrated artist and LU alum John Alexander with a naming and dedication of the John Alexander Painting Studio Oct. 8 at 5:30 p.m. in the Art Building. The event was free and open to the public. A Beaumont native, Alexander received an art degree from LU in 1968 and an M.F.A. from Southern Methodist University. A recipient of National Endowment for the Arts and Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowships, his work is included in the permanent collections of leading museums around the nation. Alexander was on hand for the dedication and reception.


2015 Art Faculty Exhibition

2015 Art Faculty ShowThe Dishman Art Museum will host the 2015 Art Faculty Exhibition Aug. 17 - Sept. 20. The annual faculty showcase highlights work created by the faculty of LU’s Department of Art, including Keith Carter, Kurt Dyrhaug, Xenia Fedorchenko, Sherry S. Freyermuth, Donna M. Meeks, Natacha Poggio, Prince V. Thomas and Christopher Troutman. The show will also display works by adjunct faculty members Linnis Blanton, Tanna Burchinal, Greg Busceme and Rose Matthis; as well as studio staff member Neal Pitak.

The exhibit reception will be Friday, Sept. 28, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. 


Iron Pour Workshop Weekend at LU

Iron Pour Workshop at Lamar University logoThe Department of Art will host an iron pour workshop and fundraiser in conjunction with the Texas Atomic Iron Commission on May 1-2.

On Friday, May 1, visiting sculpture artists Dewane Hughes and Hans Molzberger will give a lecture in the Dishman Art Museum at 5:30 p.m.

Festivities on Saturday, May 2 begin with a workshop and demonstration at noon in the Department of Art. Guests will have the opportunity to purchase a star-shaped mold and carve their own design for use in the iron pour. After the iron is poured, it cools for about 20 minutes before the molds will be opened to reveal the new sculptures. Read more...


Dyrhaug exhibits work at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum

Professor Kurt Dyrhaug participated as an invited artist in the third International Crosscurrent Exchange Show in Tokyo, Japan, March 20-28, 2015. Dyrhaug, a sculptor, was one of 15 artists selected from the United States to show their work at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum.

Suguru Hiraide, associate professor at Midwestern State University, and Yasunari Nakagomi, director of the Association of International Artists Exchange in Tokyo, co-curated the exhibition. Read more...


Christopher Troutman wins grand prize at the 66th Miyazaki Sougou Art Exhibition

Christopher Troutman, assistant professor of drawing, was awarded the grand prize at the 66th Miyazaki Sougou Art Exhibition, which includes a paid trip to Paris, France, in the summer of 2015. The resulting artwork completed after the trip will be exhibited in Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum in October 2015.

Troutman's drawings will be featured in Marking Time – Marking Space, March 20 - April 26, a two-person exhibition at the University of Dallas with Hollis Hammonds, chair of the Department of Visual Studies at St. Edward’s University. Troutman’s drawings will also be on shown in a solo exhibition, Time and Place, at the Art Gallery of Lone Star College – Montgomery, April 6 - May 1. 

In addition to solo and two-person exhibitions, Troutman’s drawings will be on display in several juried exhibitions throughout the U.S. in spring 2015, including Americas Paperworks 2015 through Emporia State University; Columbia College’s Paper in Particular 2015; the 35th Bradley International Print and Drawing Exhibition, at the Contemporary Art Center of Peoria, the Peoria Art Guild, the Prairie Center of the Arts and the Heuser Art Gallery at Bradley University.

Troutman’s work is also a finalist for the 35th Hunting Art Prize, the winner of which will be announced at the Hunting Art Prize gala on May 2, 2015. 

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