Art at Cedar Point work on display in MEDICI Gallery
calendar icon23 Aug 2018
Lincoln, Neb.--A selection of work created by students who took this summer’s Art at Cedar Point course is on display in the MEDICI Gallery in Richards Hall through Saturday, Aug. 25.
The MEDICI Gallery is located on the first floor of Richards Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.
This summer’s class, “Making Your Mark: The Figure and Nature” was taught by Associate Professor of Art Santiago Cal from June 4-15. Ten students took the intensive studio course, creating artworks based on their experience at Cedar Point.
Art at Cedar Point is a two-week, interdisciplinary art course offered by the School of Art, Art History & Design each summer and taught at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Cedar Point Biological Station, a field research facility and experiential classroom, located near Ogallala, Nebraska.
Art at Cedar Point has been offered since 2014. Courses have focused on photography, printmaking, mixed media and now this summer’s drawing and the figure in nature course. Next summer, Professor of Art Aaron Holz is projected to teach a watercolor journaling course.
Cal said when he created his course this summer, he kept his course loosely structured.
“I didn’t want to come in and just dictate projects,” he said. “I wanted them to define themselves in this place, and I have to say that they are doing very good work. All of the works are meaningful to them. None of the work seems like assignments, and all of the works are specifically tied to their experience or what they’re thinking about while they’re here.”
Toni Kemerling, a senior secondary special education major and art minor from Crete, Nebraska, said her Cedar Point experience helped her see her environment in a new way.
“I think I’m starting to look at things differently,” she said. “I was telling Santiago that I see little bugs, and I’m examining them. I wouldn’t have done that before this. Now, I know a little bit about them and what the bugs do. I’ve looked up plants. I think when I go home, I will continue what I’m working on here because it’s something I want to continue for a long time. It’s like a journal-type of thing.”
“It’s been really fun,” said Ian Cuevas, a junior art major originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who also took the course. “There’s a certain amount of freedom that you get with, one, a high-level class, but, two, just being in a place where everyone wants to be learning. They also want to go off and explore. It feels less like a class and more like sort of an artist’s residency.”
Click HERE to view videos created by Justin Hicklin, a senior double major in biochemistry and Spanish, as part of the course.
For more information on Art at Cedar Point, including how to enroll in the class or apply for the artist-in-residencies, please visit go.unl.edu/artatcedarpoint.