The Art Department at the University of Puget Sound is pleased to welcome two artists in residence this semester as part of our "Living Art" visiting artist series: Josephine Halvorson<http://www.josephinehalvorson.com/> and Sandow Birk<http://www.sandowbirk.com/>. Please mark your calendars for the public events below! These events are all free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served. ************************* JOSEPHINE HALVORSON Josephine Halvorson makes paintings on-site, face to face with an object in its environment. Often no more than an arm's length away, she detects variations in texture, light, and temperature, transcribing these perceptions through the medium of paint. The result is an intimate portrait of the object, capturing both a natural likeness as well as the often unseen or overlooked character of her chosen subject. Halvorson holds a BFA from The Cooper Union (2003) and a MFA from Columbia University (2007). She is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to Vienna (2003-4), a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant (2009), and a New York Foundation for the Arts Award (2010). She currently serves as a Critic in the MFA program in Painting at Yale University. What Makes its Presence Known: Emily Gherard, Helen O'Toole, and Josephine Halvorson Wednesday, March 26, 4:00 PM, Trimble Forum, University of Puget Sound Professor Elise Richman will moderate this panel discussion with local painters Emily Gherard, Helen O'Toole and visiting artist in residence Josephine Halvorson. The artists will discuss how memory, tactility, and empathy inform the layered, distinctly time-based process of painting. Refreshments will be served. Artist Talk: Josephine Halvorson Thursday, March 27, 7:00 PM, Tacoma Art Museum Josephine Halvorson will speak about her work and painting techniques at the Tacoma Art Museum. Refreshments will be served. *********************** SANDOW BIRK Los Angeles artist Sandow Birk is a well-traveled graduate of the Otis/Parson's Art Institute. Frequently developed as expansive, multi-media projects, his works have dealt with contemporary life in its entirety. With an emphasis on social issues, frequent themes of his past work have included inner city violence, graffiti, political issues, travel, war, and prisons, as well as surfing and skateboarding. He was a recipient of an NEA International Travel Grant to Mexico City in 1995 to study mural painting, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1996, and a Fulbright Fellowship for painting to Rio de Janeiro for 1997. In 1999 he was awarded a Getty Fellowship for painting, followed by a City of Los Angeles (COLA) Fellowship in 2001. In 2007 he was an artist in residence at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, and at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris in 2008. His most recent project involves a consideration of the Qur'an as relevant to contemporary life in America. American Qur'an March 10 - April 14, 2014, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM (M-F), 12:00 - 5:00 PM (Sat) Kittredge Gallery, University of Puget Sound On view in the Kittredge Gallery are selections from Sandow Birk's ongoing project American Qur'an. Around 2005, as an outgrowth of his travels in Islamic countries and as a response to political events around the world, including the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Birk began to read and closely study the Qur'an in order to better understand Islam. Over the course of his studies, he began to envision an art project that would result in what he calls "a personal Qur'an," a series of artworks that would explore how this important religious text relates to contemporary American life, and thereby help him and his viewers develop a more nuanced understanding of Islam. Birk hopes that others will be inspired to think in broader terms about the Qur'an, and what it intrinsically means to be Muslim; that it is not a state of "otherness" but instead a shared experience of the world through a lens of different cultures. Gallery Talk: Sandow Birk Monday, April 14, 3:00 PM, Kittredge Gallery Artist in residence Sandow Birk will speak about his work in the Kittredge Gallery. Information about additional events for Sandow Birk will be forthcoming as his visit approaches. Laura Edgar | Art Department Assistant and Curator, Abby Williams Hill Collection UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND 1500 N. Warner St. #1072 Tacoma, WA 98416-1072 T: 253.879.2806 pugetsound.edu/art