Three Cutting-Edge Artists and Argentine Critic to lecture at SUNY New Paltz

NEW PALTZ — The popular Art Lecture Series continues with three exceptional artists and a critic featured during the month of April. Akiyama Yo, ceramics; Peter Bauhuis, metals; Victoria Verlichak, critic; and Jeff Talman, sculpture; will give a presentation about their work on consecutive Wednesday evenings beginning April 2, at 7:30 p.m. in Lecture Center 102 at the State University of New York at New Paltz. All lectures are free and open to all.

Akiyama Yo, ceramics – April 2

Tensions which lie between exteriors and interiors, life and death, prosperity and decadence are explored in the individual clay pieces and installations of Akiyama Yo.

His technique is revealing: he takes a lump of clay, heats the exterior, then with his hands, peels the top layer of clay. In doing so, Akiyama Yo exposes the energy that lies hidden below the surface of the clay. The cracks in the clay are of the utmost importance as well, as they not only reveal something about a façade but also convey what is happening beneath – cracks are the expression of clay’s inner nature and reveal the character and personalities of a piece.
Commenting about his process Akiyama Yo says…"You see, there are two elements to my work — construction and deconstruction. I shape clay into a certain form, torch it, then tear it apart. It’s a process of life and death, creation and destruction. And in this process, I try to understand how, through my techniques, I can embrace clay for what it is, and how it wishes to be expressed."

Akiyama Yo’s works have been exhibited worldwide and have received major awards including the Suntory Museum Award, the Kyoto Prefecture Culture Award, and the Japan Ceramic Society Award. His work is represented in the National Museums in Kyoto and Osaka, the Faenza International Ceramics Museum in Italy, and the Victoria & Albert Museum, U.K. Additionally, he exhibited his work at the Athens Olympics where only a handful of artists from around the world were given the honor.

Peter Bauhuis, metals – April 9

The extraordinary work of Munich goldsmith Peter Bauhuis presents the opportunity to greatly expand the perceptions of those who have a traditional understanding of what a goldsmith does For some time now the art of goldsmithing has been no longer limited to its traditional role of producing jewelry, functional tableware and ceremonial objects but it is rare to encounter work which is simultaneously so beautiful, innovative and clever.

Since the mid 1990s, Bauhuis’ output has been extensive and wide ranging, including artists books, vessels, jewelry and optical installations ranging in size from handheld to architectural. His work explores the preoccupation with looking and being looked at, an obsession with casting, and humorous wit.

Bauhuis has received several awards including the Debutantenpreis of the Munich Academy of Fine Art, the Prize of the City of Munich for the Applied Arts, a Friedrich Becker Prize, Dusseldorf; and the European Competition for Jewelry. He is in the collections of the Museum fuer Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany; Okresni Muzeum Ceskeho raje Turnov, Cech Republic; Alice and Louis Koch Collection, Basel, Switzerland; Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, Germany; and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. Bauhuis has had numerous solo exhibitions geographically ranging from the United States to Australia; and his work has been included in several publications.

Victoria Verlichak, critic – April 16

Victoria Verlichak, Argentine art critic and journalist, author and co-author has written about pioneering artists who have shaped the Argentine cultural landscape including – Rowing Bianchedi, Ana Eckell, Roberto Elia, Fernando Fazzolari, Matilde Marin and Eduardo Medici.

Jeff Talman, sculpture – April 23

Jeff Talman’s video, sculptural and graphic work relates to the nature of light and sound as primal radiant forces. Recent video includes elemental spectral light projection, multi-faceted views of cathedral columns and the mist of a simple human breath as framed by the sky. Large-scale steel resonators, rods and aluminum plates are among the resources for sculpture. Print media work includes spectrographic images of architectural spatial sounds from important interiors including those recorded on site in the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, the Temple of Debod in Madrid, the Pantheon in Rome, Hagia Sofia in Istanbul and over 100 religious sites in Europe and America.

"Living in Prague I became intrigued by the ephemeral but vastly different sounds of large interior spaces – cathedrals, castles, museums and train stations. I became increasingly aware of space and myself in the space. I experienced sound-space as a transformative event-place in which self-awareness and perceptions of phenomena that defined the site contrasted sharply…my installations address sonic resonance in relation to light, objects, architecture and space. Room tone or object-issued sounds, as in the intimate roar of a seashell, are recorded, analyzed and stripped to principal resonant frequencies." (Talman)

Award-winning artist Jeff Talman has created installations for the Cathedral and the City of Cologne, Germany; the MIT Media Lab, The Kitchen, Bitforms, Eyebeam, St. James Cathedral, Chicago; Art Interactive, Art Omi and others. Recent major awards include a 2006 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in Sound Art and a 2003 New York Foundation for the Arts Award in Computer Arts. Recent artist residencies include those at the Bogliasco Foundation in Italy (2007), the Künstlerhaus Krems, Austria (2006); the Rodriguez-Amat Foundation in Les Olives, Spain (2006); the Åland Archipelago Artist Residency in Kökar, Finland (2005); the Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus in Schwandorf, Germany (2003) and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (2002). He has been awarded residencies at Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY (2002, 2003, 2004, 2007). Other residencies include the MacDowell Colony, the Ragdale Foundation, the Ucross Foundation, the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, the Millay Colony and I-Park.

For additional information call (845) 257-3872.

The Art Lecture Series is sponsored by the Student Art Alliance, a funded member of the Student Association.