John Beck was a long-time supporter of programs that benefit IU students and the Fine Arts community. The SoFA Gallery and Friends of Art mourn Mr. Beck's recent passing and are honored by his gracious gift. The funds raised from the auction aided the Friends of Art's grant, award, and scholarship programs, which benefit students in the IU School of Fine Arts, and it helped ensure the SoFA Gallery's continual presentation of a varied annual schedule of exhibitions and events. 

FourSquare

An exhibition of work by the Graphic Design Faculty at Indiana University

FourSquare: An exhibition of work by the Graphic Design Faculty was featured at the SoFA Gallery September 5 - 23, 2006

FourSquare featured recent self-generated and client based graphic design work by IU Fine Arts faculty members Jenny El-Shamy, James Reidhaar, Paul Brown, and David Wolske. The artists selected to show pieces that, as Reidhaar explains, "don't normally get seen." The works highlighted the faculty's talents, including a collaboration by Brown and Reidhaar on several letterpress books. IU Faculty member Jenny El-Shamy has worked for top publishing and design firms with high-profile clients and presented examples of her published textbook design work. David Wolske's contributions to the show included his uniquely beautiful greeting cards, as well as the exhibition's graphically sophisticated poster. The artists contributed other examples of their work, including examples of letter-press printed books, broadsides and ephemera, exhibition catalogs, posters, and commissioned books.

perform.media

Perform.Media was at the SoFA Gallery September 29-October 14, 2006.

Perform.Media was a trans-disciplinary festival that was presented at Indiana University. Festival directors Andrew Bucksbarg and IU Fine Arts New Media professor Leslie Sharpe hosted an exhibition, a symposium, and a night of performance work. Festival participants include artists, directors, writers composers, musicians, DJs/VJs, media theorists, and university researchers. The exhibition featured interactive electronic media installations, video, sound and other works that "play" and address our interactions with new media.

The festival featured a two day symposium with the themes "Performing the Audio Visual" on September 30, and "Performing Identities and Personal Media" on October 1, 2006. The events included talks, demonstrations of new media art, and a Wiki design workshop, by over fifty participants from around the globe. Leslie Sharpe chaired a panel of artists at the symposium, each of which make telematic works, on the topic of "Performing the Mapped, Mobile, Networked, Trans-local or Distributed."

Several works incorporated live performance. Robert Ladislas Derr's work Chance, invited visitors to roll dice to determine a path that he would walk through Bloomington. Sarah Kanouse broadcast herself walking the campus of Indiana University as if it were Indiana State Prison, using a GPS unit and presenting altered aerial photographs. Matthew Roberts' Transfers took participants on a taxi ride around the city, using GPS in a mobile environment to explore user participation and real-time art. Visit the festival's website at www.performthemedia.net 

Human Nature

The SoFA Gallery's ambitious two part exhibition and lecture series, Human Nature, is an examination of our existence as biological beings and our relationship with the natural world. Current explorations in the life sciences are shaping the way contemporary society understands our bodies, our origins, and our niche within the global ecosystem. Artworks in the exhibition reveal the intersection of art and science, depicting the body, animal life, genetics, and bio-technology. Because of a generous grant awarded by New Frontiers and New Perspectives at Indiana University, as well as other sponsors, including the Indiana Arts Commission, the SoFA Gallery is bringing nationally and internationally known thought provoking artworks to Indiana University. The lecture series features world-class lecturers and public forums that discuss the interactions of artistic and scientific thought and the nature of the human species.

Beings:
A Preview to Human Nature
February 21 - March 10, 2006

Human Nature had its own origins in February, 2006, with Beings: A Preview to Human Nature, which featured works by four artists from the mid-West region, who introduced some of the themes of Human Nature parts I and II. The artists presented artworks that re-interpret scientific discovery and reveal related moral and ethical issues. Reggie Stump's piece in Beings consists of heads submerged in clear containers and surrounded by Polaroid snapshots that juxtapose the genetic and socio-environmental causes of alcoholism. As the work ages, the alcohol that is in each of the containers grows mold and generally ages, creating a real sense of a science project gone wrong. Elona Van Gent constructs her high-tech resin creatures with a three-dimensional modeling and digital editing program from images she borrows from material culture, Dr. Seuss, and science fiction. She also contributed a lecture on her artist process and how society imagines monsters. Richard Gray's visually engaging color prints investigate human identity by imaging human profiles against stills of each subject's genetic material. Richard Krueger's images of altered animals reveals the potential of the human imagination to control nature in an age of genetic engineering.

Human Nature I
The Natural World

Human Nature I: The Natural World was presented at the SoFA Gallery October 20 - November 18, 2006, and included an exhibition, a lecture series, and a public forum.

Human Nature I: The Natural World, featured works by sixteen nationally and internationally known artists, which investigate our understanding of ourselves as biological creatures and our relationship to the natural world. 

The exhibition reveals the inter-relatedness between the natural world and human life, exemplified by Alexis Rockman's large format painting that dominated the back wall of the gallery. Rockman uses scientific research to predict how human control over the environment will affect the earth's future, drawing attention to our membership in a global ecosystem.

Putting her awe of nature into artistic practice, Diana Lynn Thompson creates ephemeral site-specific environmental art that promotes an emotional connection with nature. She worked in the gallery for two weeks to complete her installation of hanging fall leaves. IU faculty member Bonnie Sklarski's paintings of seasonal plant life captured a similar sense of reverence for the natural world and highlighted the artist's technique of painting with a sense of romantic realism. Shawn Decker's sound installation reproduced the nostalgic and familiar sound of chirping cicadas with buckets of water suspended by piano wire, played by small rotating motors. 

Several artworks in the show investigated the social lives of animals and the perceived differences and similarities between humans and animals. Wim Delvoye's playfully taboo bronze sculpture of elk situates human intimacy within the context of the animal kingdom, while Linda Adele Goodine's tri-layered digital prints create narratives around domesticated farm animals that situate animals' experiences within the context of human society. Katrin Asbury and Shawn Greene's replica of a Victorian era library exemplifies human fascination with imagining animals with the attributes of human society.

Advancements in the life sciences have brought contemporary society a new understanding of our bodies. In the early 1990's, Lorna Simpson's well-known work Same, challenged perceptions of gender and racial identity and the physical features of the human body. Less than two decades later, works like Richard Gray's portraits, which include images of genetic material, and Gary Schneider's large-scale nude portraits, are addressing our physical and biological identities in new ways. Joel-Peter Witkin's use of the body in his large-scale photographic pieces were standouts in the exhibition. Three of Witkin's photographic works were presented, which depict human and animal remains in order to develop and challenge art historical notions of aesthetic beauty. 

The exhibition feature several digital video projections, which investigate new ways of imaging the human body, including three projections by Lilla LoCourto and Bill Outcault, of 3D animations of the human body, shown in 360 degrees, which are spliced apart and reconfigured. IU Fine Arts faculty Arthur Liou presented works that image the medical and personal issues involved in dealing with his daughter Vivian's illness. 

Two Indiana University scientists contributed educational visual tools that teach about nature and biology, to compliment the artworks in the show. Roger Hangarter, an IU Bloomington Biology professor, created Brood X, a film documenting the above ground lifecycle of the 17-year cicadas that emerge from Bloomington in 2004. Albert William, from the IUPUI School of Medicine and the School of Informatics, presented interactive and 3D animation computer programs that allow users to investigate the inner-workings of cellular structures.

Human Nature I: Lecturers

Alexis Rockman presented a lecture, which contextualized his large format painting Manifest Destiny, within his career. By supporting the painting's prediction of the consequences of human advancement with research in the life sciences, Rockman is able to present the information contained in the work while remaining "ambivalent" to its provocative implications.

Diana Lynn Thompson stayed in Bloomington for two weeks to complete her installation of hanging leaves, Heartwood. She collaborated with IU students, who collected leaves and helped construct the installation. Thompson lectured on her art, commenting on the importance of public participation in art and her emotional connection with the natural world.

Sander Gilman is a celebrated art and cultural historian who has contributed to discourse on the way we imagine the human body. Gilman presented a lecture, which investigated the history of plastic surgery and tied in specific works from Human Nature. The scholar stayed for a book signing and greeted attendees at a reception after the lecture.

Public Forum: The intersection of art and science

The SoFA Gallery held a public forum on November 16, 2007, which began with a discussion by Human Nature I: The Natural World artist/scientists Linda Adele Goodine and Roger Hangarter. The discussion was opened to the public, moderated by SoFA Gallery director Betsy Stirratt. Roger Hangarter is a Professor of Biology at Indiana University who creates short films documenting natural processes, bringing an artistic sensibility to scientific imaging. Linda Adele Goodine presented three photographic color prints in the exhibition that are eloquent descriptions of agricultural life and seek to reconcile the human-nature relationship.

up-coming exhibit 
Human Nature II: Future Worlds

In February 2007, the SoFA Gallery will present the second half of Human Nature, which will include works by Eduardo Kac, Jac Chartier, Suzanne Anker, Paul Vanouse, Richard Krueger, Elona Van Gent, Eva Sutton, and Susan Robb, and Christa Erickson. The exhibition investigates genetics, biological/physical alteration and anomaly, and the sociological, moral, and ethical implications of new technological advancements in genomics and bio-technology. 

Human Nature II: Future Worlds will be at the SoFA Gallery from February 9 - March 10, 2007 and will feature lectures by Eduardo Kac, Suzanne Anker, and Cultural and Art historian Barbara Maria Stafford. 

A full-color exhibition catalog will be available for purchase in February 2007. Contributions to the catalog include an essay by SoFA Gallery director Betsy Stirratt, Art Historian and Professor Jean Robertson, PhD, and current and former IU Fine Arts graduate students Whitney Moeller, Erin Devine and Jen Eberbach.

student shows

The SoFA Gallery presented several student shows during the fall and spring semesters, featuring excellent works of undergraduate, BA, BFA, and MFA students in all areas of the School of Fine Arts. The exhibitions gave visitors a chance to see burgeoning creative genius at work. The students participated in the installation of their work and attended gallery talks and openings, giving them experience in the business and promotion of their art. 

Fine Arts Abroad: Overseas Study 

For the past few years, the School of Fine Arts and the IU Office of Overseas study have partnered to offer summer Fine Arts programs in Europe. These programs were taught by IU Fine Arts faculty. The gallery annually exhibits student work produced in these programs in order to highlight the exciting educational opportunities IU provides its students. This year, Paul Brown taught bookmaking in Venice, Italy, Eve Mansdorf taught drawing in Venice, Italy, Jeff Wolin taught photography in Paris, and Galo Moncayo taught a sculpture class in Berlin, Germany.

IUEX

The Gallery Directors from seven Indiana University campuses, including Bloomington's SoFA Gallery director Betsy Stirratt, announced the founding of IUEX, Indiana University Exhibitions, a cooperative initiative that illustrates the commitment of Indiana University art educators to further education, cultural awareness, and community involvement with the visual arts. 

Directors are from IU in Bloomington, IUPUI in Indianapolis, IU Northwest in Gary, IU East in Richmond, IU Kokomo, and IU South Bend and IU Southeast. The cooperative will plan exhibits, which will travel to all IU campuses, host artists visits, and hold multi-campus conferences transmitted to all campuses via videoconference technology. 

Dazzle: Contemporary Art Jewelry + Objects Gala Auction

The Gala & Auction were held at the SoFA Gallery December 6-December 8, 2006.

Jewelry and small art objects created by faculty members, students and alumni of the IU Fine Arts Metalsmithing and Jewelry Design Program were sold in the gallery the week leading up to a Live Auction and Holiday reception, Friday December 8. These works were made of gold, silver, stones, resin, steel, coral, semi-precious stones, pearls, and other materials. The event raised funds for a SoFA Gallery exhibition, coming in 2007, Fields of Vision: Contemporary Jewelry and Hollowware. Fields of Vision will be the most significant exhibit of metalwork at Indiana University since the Alma Eikerman Retrospective exhibit held at the IU Art Museum in 1985.