MacArthur scholar Fernandez to discuss work. Expert on Chinese painting to expand on exhibit
By Dorothy Shinn, Beacon Journal arts, architecture writer
Two award-winning speakers will give art talks today at opposite ends of downtown Akron and at different times of the day, but both seek to expand our understanding of specific areas of art and should be well worth attending.
At noon, the University of Akron Myers School of Art will present the 2005 MacArthur ''Genius'' Fellowship winner, Teresita Fernandez, who will give a free lecture about her work.
At 6:30 p.m., the Akron Art Museum will present Julia Andrews, a specialist in Chinese painting and modern Chinese art, author of Painters and Politics in the People's Republic of China and winner of the Joseph Levenson Prize of the Association for Asian Studies for the best book of the year on modern China.
Andrews will expand upon the museum exhibit Culture Revolution: Contemporary Chinese Paintings From the Allen Memorial Art Museum.
Her free talk is the first of two talks about contemporary Chinese art. It will be held in the Lehner Auditorium at the museum at 1 S. High St. Seating is on a first-come basis.
The second talk about Chinese art, Transcending Borders in Contemporary Chinese Art, will be given at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 3 in the Lehner Auditorium by Aileen Wang, art history lecturer at Penn State Erie, the Behrend College. Her talk will be presented by the University of Akron Myers School of Art and co-sponsored by the Confucius Institute at UA.
Fernandez, 37, is in town in conjunction with the Friday opening of her exhibit, Teresita Fernandez: Blind Landscape at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland. The exhibit will run through May 8. She is a sculptor who integrates architecture and optical effects of color and light to produce beautifully built, contemplative spaces.
Her sculptures often present amazing optical illusions and evoke rainbows, sunlight, fire and water.
Fernandez is the youngest artist commissioned by the Seattle Art Museum for the recently opened Olympic Sculpture Park, where her Seattle Cloud Cover invites visitors to walk through a covered skyway while viewing
the city skyline through tiny holes in multicolored glass.
Her noon talk is free and will be held in the UA Myers School of Art Folk Hall Auditorium, 150 E. Exchange St.
For information, call the museum at 330-376-9186 or the art school at 330-972-6030.
Dorothy Shinn writes about art and architecture for the Akron Beacon Journal. Send information to her at the Akron Beacon Journal, P.O. Box 640, Akron, OH 44309-0640 or dtgshinn@neo.rr.com.
