Murray State University: Dept. of Art & Design

Our Fall 2024 Patricia Summerville visiting artist in printmaking will be Stephanie Alanize, September 10-13, 2024! Come join us for an amazing workshop!

We are hiring! See the comments for info about our open Instructor/Art Technician position. We are also hiring an Accountant Assistant II. Follow the URLs for more details or find the links in our linktree posted in the bio.

https://www.murraystatejobs.com/postings/11640

https://www.murraystatejobs.com/postings/11609

Welcome and Welcome Back to new and returning Art & Design students! We are excited to have the studios filled again as we kick off the Fall semester!

Our ART 100T students kicked off the semester a day early by getting to know each other. We hope you have a great first semester at Murray State!

The Curriculum Committee is hard at work today, fine-tuning plans and prepping for an amazing new school year! We are looking forward to seeing all our students on Tuesday!

We are hiring! We’re excited to announce the posting of an Accountant Assistant II position in Art & Design. If you are interested in joining our supportive and talented team, we’d love hear about how you can meet our accounting needs! Applicants can apply through midnight on Wednesday, 8/28. https://www.murraystatejobs.com/postings/11609

Drawing Professor Katie Knoeringer is adding the final touches to our Drawing Studio, gearing up for a fantastic Fall semester! A huge thank you to Woody and all our incredible drawing instructors for their hard work this summer cleaning and reorganizing. We can’t wait for students to create and learn in this refreshed space!

Our Museum Studies Minor students have been doing amazing internships over this past summer! Here are two who are majoring in History and minoring in Museum Studies:
Ian Brockman who interned at the Judge Joseph Holt Home near Hardinsburg, KY (images 1&2) and Seth Gillespie who interned at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC under the Office of the Under Secretary for Education (images 3&4). . .
The Museum Studies Minor is an interdisciplinary program that introduces students to the opportunities in museums (broadly defined) and builds skills that can be used to pursue careers in public engagement. This minor will show students how museums connect their scholarly interests to a public discourse. Students will gain critical insights into museum studies as well as gain practical skills about collections management and museum administration. For more information contact the Museum Studies Coordinator, Dr. Antje Gamble: agamble2[at]murraystate.edu.

Today is the last day at MSU for Woody Leslie, our amazing Art Technician and Instructor. Since 2020, Woody has been essential to our department, maintaining our labs and bringing a lot of laughs (The Make Amazing Tea bar cannot be topped!). We’re excited for him as he starts a new role as a Graphic Design professor at SUNY Oswego. Woody, you’ll be missed, but we know you’ll do great things ahead.

We are hiring! We’re excited to announce the internal posting of an Accountant Assistant II position in Art & Design. If you are currently working at Murray State and are interested in joining our supportive and talented team, we’d love hear about how you can meet our accounting needs! Internal applicants can apply through midnight on Tuesday, 8/12.
https://shorturl.at/OAYrg

We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Rebecca Williams, Professor of Art Education, is now leading the Department of Art & Design as our new Chair! With her dynamic leadership and vision, we’re excited for the year ahead. This summer, she’s been busy transitioning into this new role and preparing articles for publication with colleagues.

Our Printmaking Professor Nicole Hand has had a busy summer (and Spring Sabbatical)! She’s been making shaped monoprints with etching, lithography, and screenprinting, plus working on new books and journals for in Paducah. She’s also staying sharp with observational drawings. Check out her amazing work!

Graphic Design Professor Jim Bryant has been busy in his home studio this week, working on a woodblock for MAPC’s (Mid-America Print Council) ‘The Wandering Woodcut’ project. Excited to see this collaborative effort with fellow printmakers come to life!

Dr. Gamble is busy crafting fellowship applications and a new book proposal at Etcetera in Paducah. Exciting things on the horizon! 📚✍️

Our Photography Professor Cintia Sigovia Figueroa has been on an artmaking adventure this summer, made possible by the CHFA Research and Creative Activity Grant! Cintia travelled to capture the stories and images of the workers that come to Murray in the summer to work the to***co fields, in their living space in Mexico. Here are a few images from that project.

Have you ever wondered who our gallery is named after?

Clara M. Eagle was a pioneering figure in the MSU Art Department. Joining the department in 1946, she taught Art History and Design before assuming the role of department chair in 1941—a position she held for an impressive three decades until 1971.

Her dedication and passion for the arts led her to become the director of the Clara M. Eagle Gallery for two years, marking a pivotal period in its history. Even after her retirement in 1973, Clara’s influence continued to resonate throughout the community until her passing in 1985.

Today, the Clara M. Eagle Gallery stands as a testament to her enduring legacy and commitment to the arts. 🎨✨

It’s with mixed emotions that we bid farewell to Amanda Kaler, our amazing A & D Accountant. Amanda has been the heart of our team, embodying dedication, kindness, and a willingness to go above and beyond. Her support extended far beyond accounting; her work ethic and her unwavering commitment to our students have left an indelible mark on our department.

While we will miss her dearly, we are excited for her as she embarks on a new adventure with the Girl Scouts of America. We have no doubt that Amanda will bring the same enthusiasm and dedication to her new role.

Thank you, Amanda, for everything you’ve done for us. Your presence here has made a lasting impact, and we wish you all the best in this new chapter of your career.

Yesterday Dr. Williams and Admin Assistant Ann Gosser conducted a monotype workshop for 8th graders in the TRIO program. The students were full of energy as they jumped into the process that involved gelli plates and numerous printing techniques. We were happy to host this amazing group!

Last Friday the wrapped up their three week program on campus. Our A & D alum Kait Stewart taught an art class for CHA students and we were excited to see all their work on display for their final. This is Kait’s third year teaching art at CHA where she has done an incredible job teaching a variety of creative and challenging projects. We are so proud of Kait and the students who made all of these amazing works!

This month we sadly said “see you later” to our Chair and Sculpture Professor Chris Lavery. Chris has been part of the Art & Design department since 2012. In his role as the sculpture professor he has inspired countless students and has shown so much care and concern for their artistic growth. Chris became the chair of the department in 2017 and took on the role with great vigor. He worked to ensure the A & D department remained a strong program on Murray State’s campus. Chris and his family are now off on new adventures and we are sad to see him go but are excited to see what’s next. Thank you, Chris, and see you later.

Throughout the summer we want to check in on creative projects our faculty and staff are working on. Our Ceramics Professor John Utgaard has shared some images showing him modeling and 3D printing a mold for an upcoming piece. We can’t wait to see the end result! Today is John’s birthday and we are sending him big birthday wishes!

We loved seeing our Art & Design students volunteering at ‘s Empty Bowls event hosted on Saturday during the ! So many unique bowls were made by our amazing community!

On Saturday morning our camp wrapped up with a gallery show of all the amazing work that was made throughout the week. Our campers this year were a wonderful and talented group of artists. It’s always sad to see them go at the end of the week. Our amazing director .art has stepped down as the director as her life is taking her to new and exciting places. Carly has been the heart of this camp for several years now. We are going to miss her and are so thankful for all she has done! We send lots of thanks to our amazing camp faculty and our incredible counselors Beth and Bailey. SAW is always the bright spot of our summer. We hope to see a lot of familiar faces next year!

ART 343’s summer session is wrapping up today. It was a busy two weeks! Students researched and taught the class about child development, practiced drawing stuffed animals from observation and illustrated stories they wrote about an adventure their animals went on, prepared to give teaching demonstrations of different mediums to their classmates, analyzed artworks and presented their interpretations through skits, and created a stop-motion animation!

Our SAW campers started new classes today! They are working on painting and screenprinting zines and are learning how to create sketchbooks using a coptic bookbinding technique.

We are so excited to have our Summer Art Workshop campers here this week. SAW is a hands-on camp for high school students all over the country to learn about different media taught by our A & D faculty. Today campers are finishing up their last day of painting and graphic design classes. They are also working collaboratively to create art products for a dream business. Take a look at their progress.

We are so proud of our amazing Art & Design students and all their achievements!

There are still spots available for our two week ART 343 course starting next Monday, June 3rd. The class meets on campus from 8-noon Monday-Friday.

ART 343, Art Materials and Techniques in the Classroom, is a fun, action packed art experience. Students will experiment with a variety of art materials, learn about child art development, and design art integration instruction for children from early childhood through elementary school as teacher candidates discover how and why art should be an important part of their future classrooms.

This class is open to Art Education, Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education, and Special Education Majors. Enroll today!

We are beyond excited and proud of our amazing students who got into the University Open! Samantha Lam’s painting won first place and Abigayle Cothran received an Honorable Mention! Alexus DeVaul, Connor Wolfe, and Amber Ryan are also featured! The exhibition will be open until June 29th in Lexington, KY. If you were are also featured we’d love to hear from you and celebrate you! Please send us a DM.

Today we are recognizing Lindsey Duncan! They received their BFA in Graphic Design and had a wonderful BFA show that combined oil and digital painting. Like many of our students, Lindsey notes the sense of community as a favorite experience in the Department of Art and Design. They said this: “My favorite thing about the art department is the sense of community here. I’ve met so many people who have been so helpful and supportive these past four years, and I have most certainly made lifelong friendships here as well. The art department was so welcoming, and really provided a space for me to create and explore.” Congratulations, Lindsey!