October 16, 2023
Author: Alina Ladyzhensky
Glass is classified as neither a solid nor liquid— rather, it fluctuates between these states of matter. This scientific phenomenon was a point of inspiration for Form and Formless: Constellations of Knowledge, a new exhibition curated by Alpesh Kantilal Patel, Tyler’s Associate Professor of Global Contemporary Art, at the Robert Lehman Gallery at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, New York.As Patel explained, the exhibition “meditates on the slipperiness rather than the fixity of identity categories” such as gender, sexuality, nationality, and race. In curating Form and Formless, he sought to foreground works that complicate the notion of identity as something that is singular and static.
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October 13, 2023
Author: Wanda Motley Odom
This is the second of four articles about Tyler's Spring 2023 CARAS grant awardees.Horticulture major Trinity Flores (BS Hort ’24) developed a love for nature as a young student attending Waldorf schools, an academically rigorous education program where the focus on experiential learning often took her outdoors.“I learned to milk cows when I was in third grade,” Flores, a Pottstown native, said.
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October 5, 2023
Author: Alina Ladyzhensky
When Fibers & Material Studies student Kalila Jones (BFA ’24) describes what she loves best about her chosen medium, her response is both practical and poetic.“I’m interested in the sheer possibilities of fiber arts. We’re around fibers all the time, from the clothes that we wear to our bedspreads,” they said. “I find that very fulfilling about fibers— they’re all around my life. I can see fibers. I can touch them and feel how comfortable they are. I love that tactile feeling about it.”
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September 24, 2023
Author: Wanda Motley Odom
At first blush, the art of jewelry making and the design of architecture might not seem to have much in common. But for two Tyler faculty — Doug Bucci, Assistant Professor and Program Head of Metals/Jewelry/CAD-CAM, and Andrew John Wit, Associate Professor of Architecture and Graduate Curricular Head — the synergies are readily apparent.
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September 12, 2023
Author: Wanda Motley Odom
This is the first of four articles in a series about Tyler's Spring 2023 CARAS grant awardees.Architecture student Russell Berg (BS Historic Preservation ’24) had become a bit disillusioned with the field of architecture when he decided to use a CARAS grant to counter one he believes to be one of the unfortunate economics of constructing new buildings -- that is “everything looks the same.” “A chief motivator was trying to understand for myself the ways in which people have understood architecture to be the shaping function of cities,” said Berg, one of four Tyler undergraduate students to be awarded research grants in spring 2023 through Temple University’s Creative Arts, Research and Scholarship program.
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September 8, 2023
Author: Wanda Motley Odom
At the Jenkins Arboretum and Gardens outside Philadelphia, the lush landscape of native and rare plants provides purpose -- from seed propagation to bird walks, nature exploration to yoga practice, rhododendron lectures to botanical illustration.So, when members of the arboretum’s board of directors visited Tyler earlier this year, it was only natural that an idea for collaboration flowered afterward.“Jenkins was interested in making a connection with Tyler and the idea for an exhibition with works by faculty or students was born,” said Tyler Professor Kim Strommen, who teaches in the first-year Art Foundations program. “Of course, it needed to have something to do with nature and the environment.”
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July 19, 2023
Author: Wanda Motley Odom
Art history graduate students Jessica Braum (left) and Natalie Cruz arrange prints for hanging.In early 20th century American artist Asa Cheffetz’s (1897-1965) wood engraving Deserted Farm, the carved lines are so adroitly executed that they create the illusion of wind blowing across a field of grass.“It is remarkable that an artist can convey such a fleeting movement and sensorial experience of the wind blowing in nature by incising lines in wood in a specific manner,” said Tyler art history graduate student Jessica Braum, who along with eight other Art History graduate students and Art History Associate Professor Ashley West co-curated a print exhibition for the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College in Collegeville, 30 miles outside of Philadelphia.
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July 11, 2023
Author: Wanda Motley Odom
As part of his artistic journey, Tyler alum Tim McFarlane (BFA '94) has in recent years veered toward the monumental.Putting his typical works on canvas or panel aside, McFarlane has preferred work at the large scale afforded him by murals and other wall-based installations -- applying acrylic paint, drawings and sculptural forms complete with silver and frosted Mylar, pushpins, nails, tape to walls and other surfaces.
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June 22, 2023
Author: Emily Herbein
Henry Morales (BFA '21), Tyler's Program Coordinator for Academic Enrichment, feels right at home working for his alma mater -- having the opportunity to assist students in collaborating with the arts in their community, something that he feels passionate about. He also recently curated an exhibition at Haverford College, centered on a multigenerational Latinx experience. Morales credits his personal and professional growth to his time pursuing his undergraduate degree at Tyler, which is what he hopes to encourage within the events he organizes for students. Read more about his career trajectory and advice for students still trying to find their footing.
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June 22, 2023
Author: Emily Herbein
When it comes to distributing a work of art far and wide, there are few avenues better than printmaking to share the wealth.In the spring 2023 semester, MFA students in Associate Professor Amze Emmon’s Graduate Printmaking Projects class put this truth to the test with a collaborative publication of works by more than 30 artists across the United States and in Belgium, Brazil, Indonesia, and Iran.Entitled “HELP YOURSELF,” the publication is on exhibit at Partners and Son in Philadelphia from June 23rd to August 6th. The creators have described it as “a poly-vocal collection of creative work responding to the theme of self-help from artists from around the world.”
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