Faculty & Staff Research - Summer 2018

The faculty of Texas Tech School of Art are engaged in a vast variety of research projects. Faculty research helps faculty members stay abreast of their fields, keeps them at the forefront as leaders in their disciplines and helps them to better prepare students with up-to-date techniques and concepts. Faculty research trajectories often include personal explorations on topics developed over many years. Recently some faculty have been engaging in examinations of art as a tool in medical research. These projects have garnered internal as well as federal grants that allow the faculty to work in collaboration with medical professionals and with students who are often hired as assistants.

Assistant Professor of Sculpture Cody Arnall was an artist in residence at the Vermont Studio Center in July. He had artwork included in the Fifth Annual Artspace 111 Regional Juried Exhibition, Fort Worth, TX. Juror: Christina Rees, June 22 - July 28. He was included in the 42nd Annual Juried Exhibition, curated by Josie Lopez, at the Durango Arts Center, Durango, CO in June. His January 2018 installation at the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts was reviewed in Glasstire.com in early July - read the essay [HERE]. 

Carol Flueckiger, Associate Professor of Art, was the opening speaker at the Inspired: Art At Work Symposium hosted by Elsewhere Studios in Paonia, Colorado in August.  She presented a paper entitled "Avenues of Socially Engaged Arts."  Flueckiger's project entitled Solitude of Selfie was developed during her summer 2017 residency at Elsewhere Studios. That project is currently on national tour.  Flueckiger now serves on the Board of Elsewhere Studios.

Art faculty Carol Flueckiger and Ghislaine Fremaux took a group of students to Paonia, Colorado in July to study Elsewhere Studios' project entitled Inspired: Art @ Work, which focuses on socially engaged artwork and environmental issues in the rural town. While there, the class conducted a Solar Powered Painting workshop at Solar Energy International.

In late May, Assistant Professor of Painting Ghi Fremaux was awarded an Arts in Medicine grant from The CH Foundation, to support the interdisciplinary project Luminal Self: Endoscopy and a New Body Image. The project unites the disciplines of visual art and gastroenterology, and the campuses of the School of Art and TTUHSC El Paso, in a qualitative investigation into the imaging of the gastrointestinal tract and patient experiences of GI illness.

Fremaux's drawing, Ella, won third place and a monetary prize in the juried Fine Arts Exhibition of the 2018 Decatur Arts Festival at the Dalton Gallery of Agnes Scott College in Decatur, GA, May 22 – June 10. It also won Best of Show and a monetary prize in the St. Tammany Art Association's 53rd Annual National Juried Exhibition in Covington, LA, juried by Katie Pfohl (Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the New Orleans Museum of Art), July 14-August 18. 

Additionally, Fremaux's drawing, Lover, Extend, was exhibited in PUNCH Project's Barnstorm 2018 at the Model KE Building in the SODO district of Ellensburg, WA, June 1 - June 30. Her drawing, Erin, showed in Portrait Revolution at Chico Art Center in Chico, CA, July 6–27, 2018, where it won Best of Show. Another work, To Mine, is showing in the 10th Annual Nude Exhibition at MANIFEST Creative Research Gallery & Drawing Center in Cincinnati, OH, through September 14.

Professor of Jewelry Design and Metalsmithing Robly A. Glover's necklace entitled Stop was officially accessioned on June 7th into the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, acquisition number TL. 8.2018. This was Professor Glover's third work of art to be accepted to the permanent collection. Glover's work was curated by Nora Atkinson, the Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington D.C.

Jorgelina Orfila, Ph.D., Associate Professor in Art History, presented a paper titled, "Mind and Body Engagement: Enjoyment + Training through Animated Music Video Games." at the ANIMATION AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT SYMPOSIUM 2018 (APES 18) hosted by The Animation Academy, Loughborough University, UK, in conjunction with HEART (Healing Education Animation Research Therapy) in May. In early June, Orfila presented the paper "Fantasia's 'Night on Bald Mountain:' Fantastic Horror in Disney's Early Long Feature Films," at ANIMAFEST SCANNER V, in Zagreb, Croatia. Also in June, she co-presented a paper with Dr. Francisco Ortega titled "It's not the colle that makes Collage Animation" at the 30th ANNUAL SOCIETY FOR ANIMATION STUDIES CONFERENCE 2018 held in Montreal, Canada.

Francisco Ortega, Ph.D., Associate Professor in Graphic Design, presented a paper titled, "The Effect of Animation in Learning Novel Words in Children with Specific Language Impairment" at the ANIMATION AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT SYMPOSIUM 2018 (APES 18) hosted by The Animation Academy, Loughborough University, UK, in conjunction with HEART (Healing Education Animation Research Therapy) in May. In early June, Ortega presented the paper "The Mesmerizing Loop: the Rare Case of Tom Winkler's Animated GIFs" at ANIMAFEST SCANNER V, in Zagreb, Croatia. Also in June, he co-presented a paper with Dr. Jorgelina Orfila titled "It's not the colle that makes Collage Animation" at the 30th ANNUAL SOCIETY FOR ANIMATION STUDIES CONFERENCE 2018 held in Montreal, Canada. In August, Dr. Ortega conducted research on animation in Los Angeles, where he visited the UCLA special collections and the Margaret Herrick Library (Academy of Motion Pictures Art and Sciences), among others. The research trip is supported by a Catalyst Program Grant (TTU).

Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts Heather Warren-Crow, Ph.D. presented a paper titled "An Architecture of Aerosols" at the 30th ANNUAL SOCIETY FOR ANIMATION STUDIES CONFERENCE 2018 held in Montreal, Canada in June.

Professor of Art Sangmi Yoo attended the Association of Medical Illustrators (AMI) Conference in Newton, MA for her curriculum development in Scientific Visualization concentration in Art, July 18-21. This initiative has been funded by The CH Foundation Arts in Medicine Grant from the J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual & Performing Arts.