CECA Visiting Artist Speaker Series

Throughout the history of the Department of Art + Design, we have been committed to bringing top artists, designers, curators, and thinkers to Austin Peay State University and the Clarksville community. Along with the support of the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, all of our events within the Department of Art + Design are free and open to the public.

VASE 23-24

Spring 2024

Feb. 21, 2024: Natalia Arbelaez is a Colombian American artist, born and raised in Miami, Florida to immigrant parents. Her work takes the place of a storyteller, from her personal narratives of her Colombian family’s immigration to the research of pre-Columbian South American presence, to her American, latchkey, afterschool cartoon upbringing. Each of these identities plays a role in her work to illustrate a selfportrait of what it is like to be a Mestizo, Colombian, and American hybrid. She combines these stories with research, familial narratives, and cartoon embellishments that create surreal stories, much to her efforts, of the likes of Gabriel García Márquez. A way to autobiographically narrate history with its ups and downs of humor and tears. She received her B.F.A. from Florida International University and her M.F.A. from The Ohio State University, with an Enrichment Fellowship. In 2016-2017 she was a Rittenberg Fellow at Clay Art Center; Port Chester, New York and was awarded the Inaugural Artaxis Fellowship that funded a residency to Watershed in Newcastle, ME. Her work has been exhibited internationally, in museums, galleries, and included in various collections, such as the Everson Museum and MAD Museum. She has been recognized by NCECA as a 2018 Emerging Artist and was a 2018-19 resident artist at the Ceramics Program at, Harvard University where she researched pre-Columbian art and histories. Natalia was an artist in residence at the Museum of Art and Design in New York City where she researched the work of historical and influential women ceramicists of color and continues this research as a Visiting Artist at AMOCA in Pomona, CA. Artist Talk, 6 p.m., AD120.

March 12, 2024: In Kyoung Chun will talk about her work and creative practice in conjuction with her exhibition Shared Room, on display in The New Gallery from February 19 through March 22, 2024. In Kyoung Chun’s current work depicts her personal and narrative spaces by arranging simple forms and familiar objects through painting and sculptures. Living in the United States as a South Korean immigrant has been challenging, so she creates spaces where positive energy arises. She needs to present spaces where intimacies are present. While creating these works, she attempts to achieve life's optimism and peace even in its troubled and isolated settings. She believes channeling discovery and recognizing sweetness in her everyday life is essential. Chun's work is in the permanent collection of High Museum of Art, the City of Atlanta Mayors Office of Cultural Affairs, Fulton County Public Library of Atlanta and numerous private collections. Chun recently had solo exhibitions at HiLo Press of Atlanta and the Sumter County Gallery in South Carolina. Chun’s public art has also received recognition; Rainbow Gateway: Saekdong, curated by Dash, was featured at the Peachtree Center Plaza in downtown Atlanta, and Blue Gate was featured at both Emory University of Atlanta and at Industrial City Square of Brooklyn. New York. Artist Talk, 6 p.m., AD120; March 13, Gallery Talk/Reception, noon-1:30p, The New Gallery.

March 21, 2024: Jonathan Adams, 2023-24 CECA TN Artist Fellow, excavates the psychological, symbolic and social ghosts of contemporary Black life. These themes are set against the backdrop of the culturally complex Appalachian region of the American South. Of note are his large-scale drawings and performances based on his earlyexperiences in the church, family drug abuse, systemic class racism and Southern mysticism. His creative practice embodies the richness of Southern – or Tennessean - storytelling. The CECA TN Artist Fellowship Artist Lecture is hosting in collaboration with the Frist Art Museum in Nashville, TN. Attendance to the lecture is Free, and is in conjuction with College Night at the Frist - which offers free admittance to the Museum with valid college I.D. Artist Talk, 6 p.m., Frist Art Museum

March 27, 2024 (update: 3/25/24: POSTPONED - New date TBD for week of April 8): Althea Murphy-Price uses deception, desire and ornamentation to form questions on the topics of truth, fascination and attraction. Often, using hair as material or image I exercise its role as embellishment and as signifier of racial identity. Investigating, assimilation and individuality, truth and false, this edition of CNC milled relief prints are inspired by color, surface and texture. The work is intended to capture the realistic appear of hair and suggest the object and action of braiding. Murphy-Price received her B.A. Fine Art from Spelman College before receiving her Master of Arts in Printmaking and Painting from Purdue University and her Masters of Fine Arts from the Tyler School of Art, Temple University. Her work has been featured in such publications as Art Papers Magazine, Art in Print Magazine, Printmaking Today (UK), CAA Reviews Journal, Printmaking: A Complete Guide to Materials and Process, and Printmakers Today. She has been exhibited widely nationally as well as international cities in Spain, China, Japan, Italy and Sweden. Her work is also included in the public collections of the Huntsville Museum of Art, Knoxville Museum of Art, and the Bernard A. Zukerman Museum of Art. Murphy-Price’s work has been acknowledged for its non-conventional approach to the traditions of printmaking. Utilizing lithography, stenciling methods, photography and 3D printing, her work can be described as representing a broad survey of contemporary printmaking. During her visit, Murphy-Price will also spend a few days in our Print Studio producing a new print edition with 1 piece to be included in APSU's Permanent Art Collection. update: 3/25/24: POSTPONED - New date TBD

CECA Visiting Artist Speaker Series

Below is just a selection of nationally and internationally renowned artists that the Department of Art + Design has hosted at APSU.