Lincoln, Neb.—Alumnus Adrian Armstrong will present the next Hixson-Lied Visiting Artist & Scholar Lecture on Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 5:30 p.m. at Sheldon Museum of Art’s Ethel S. Abbott Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.
The School of Art, Art History & Design’s Hixson-Lied Visiting Artist & Scholar Lecture Series brings notable artists, scholars and designers to Nebraska each semester to enhance the education of students. The series is presented in collaboration with Sheldon Museum of Art.
Armstrong’s (B.F.A. 2014) multidisciplinary practice encompasses drawing, painting, printmaking, installation, sound, and other mixed-media elements and documents the contemporary Black experiences in the United States. He is deeply interested in questions of how Black experiences intersect with the history of photography, portraiture, and collage.
Using friends, family members, and acquaintances as subjects, Armstrong’s single and multi-figural works probe the influence of place and popular culture on the formation of self-image, community, connection, tenderness, and love. More specifically, he is interested in the complex ways race informs how we assign value to and interact in the spaces we occupy.
He earned a semi-finalist position in the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery’s Outwin Boochever Triennial Portrait competition. Ten of his pieces were featured in ArtBasel Miami’s Chateau CIROC. This exhibition/event is an experiential platform to celebrate and empower Black Excellence. The team at CIROC unveiled it during to not only give a platform to artists and their ongoing work but to provide them a home where diverse voices are seen, heard, felt, and most importantly, celebrated. Several of his pieces were featured in “House of Crowns,” a collaborative exhibition between Phillips Auction House and Super Position Gallery New York. He was featured in a solo exhibition titled “There Are Black People in Nebraska?” at Big Medium in Austin, Texas.
Armstrong received the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts’ Alumni Achievement Award in Art last spring.
View his work at http://adrianarmstrongart.com.
The remaining lectures in the series are:
• March 6: Michael Krueger. Krueger is a professor in the Department of Visual Art at the University of Kansas. Grounded firmly in drawing, he works in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, printmaking, animation and ceramics. View his work on Instagram @michael_krueger_studio.
• March 13: Margaret LeJeune. LeJeune’s creative practice explores the relationship between art, science and environmental studies. In 2023, she was named the Woman Science Photographer of the Year by the Royal Photographic Society. View her work at https://www.margaretlejeune.com.
• March 27: Vera Iliatova. Iliatova’s work employs metaphors of landscape and interior spaces and female figures that meld together in oddly disconnected perspectives. View her work at https://vera-iliatova.com.
• April 3: Tony Orrico. Orrico is a visual and performing artist whose record of exhibitions spans five continents. He is assistant professor of dance and sculpture/intermedia at the University of Iowa. View his work at https://tonyorrico.com.
• April 9: Jack Davis and Sharon Stocker. Richards Hall Rm. 15. Davis and Stocker are a husband-and-wife team of University of Cincinnati archaeologists. They were part of an international team of archaeologists led by UC that recently discovered a Bronze Age warrior’s tomb in southwestern Greece filled with more than 1,400 objects and was featured in the New York Times (https://go.unl.edu/nytpylos).
• April 10: Jaque Fragua. Fragua is a Native American artist known for his powerful and thought-provoking works. His artistic practice encompasses a diverse range of mediums, including studio painting, mural creation, sculpture, installation and public art. See his work at https://www.mobilsavage.com/
• April 17: Amanda Maciuba. Co-sponsored by the Great Plains Art Museum. Maciuba’s work is concerned with the landscapes, communities, development practices and environmental practices throughout the U.S. Her solo exhibition, “Watershed,” will be on view at the Great Plains Museum from April 4-Sept. 20, and she will be the Elizabeth Rubendall Artist-in-Residence from April 8-19. A reception will take place in the Great Plains Art Museum immediately following the lecture at Sheldon. View her work at https://www.amandamaciuba.com.
• April 24: Norman Akers. Akers’ work is included in the spring exhibition “Exploding Native Inevitable,” at Sheldon Museum of Art. Akers is associate professor in the Department of Visual Art at the University of Kansas. As a Native American artist, he explores issues of identity, culture (including Osage mythos), place, and the dynamics of personal and cultural transformation in his work. View his work at https://normanakers.com.
Underwritten by the Hixson-Lied Endowment with additional support from other sources, the series enriches the culture of the state by providing a way for Nebraskans to interact with luminaries in the fields of art, art history and design. Each visiting artist or scholar spends one to three days on campus to meet with classes, participate in critiques and give demonstrations.
For more information on the series, contact the School of Art, Art History & Design at (402) 472-5522 or e-mail schoolaahd@unl.edu.
