Press Releases
Melissa Harshman, "Ribbon Salad," serigraph, 2005.
"MEETING THE OTHER: AMERICAN AND EGYPTIAN PRINTS"
ON DISPLAY AT UNL ROTUNDA GALLERY FEB. 25-MARCH 7
Lincoln, Neb.—"Meeting the Other: American and Egyptian Prints" will be on display Feb. 25-March 7 at the Rotunda Gallery, which is located inside the Nebraska Union on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln City Campus.
This exhibition represents the young generation of American print artists matched with young Egyptian artists of quality and merit to create a platform of artistic and cultural interaction using art as our common voice.
"The exhibition presents the opportunity to learn about ourselves as people across cultures and distances," said Cather Professor of Art Karen Kunc.
Sixteen American artists and 16 Egyptian artists are included in the exhibition. Among the American artists are four UNL Department of Art and Art History graduates (Jennifer Ghormley, MFA 2006; Tony Holmquist, BFA 2003; Kristen Martincic, MFA 2005; and Melinda Yale, MFA 2006). In addition, Brett Anderson, an adjunct lecturer in the UNL Department of Art and Art History and local artist, and Victoria Goro-Rapoport, an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, are also included in the exhibition.
The exhibition is scheduled to tour throughout the United States in 2008, including stops at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., the ISIS Gallery at the University of Akron (Ohio) and Whittier College in Los Angeles, and return for presentation in Egypt in 2009 at the American University in Cairo and the Alexandria Bibliotheca Art Gallery in Alexandria, Egypt.
The exhibition is co-curated by Kunc, and Assistant Professor Wael El Sabour El Kadar from El Miniya University in Egypt.
This collaborative project follows upon the 2005 exhibition and seminar at the American University in Cairo of "Open Expressions: Contemporary American Printmaking Art," organized by Kunc.
Ahmed Omar, "The Nile," woodcut.
"During the 2005 seminar in Cairo with Egyptian students and nine visiting American artists, it was fervently expressed that our exchanges and friendships continue," Kunc said. "'Meeting the Other' is a new project towards this goal for mutual understanding and communication by directly sharing ideas, art and culture in the form of original prints."
In conjunction with the exhibition "Meeting the Other," there will be a gallery talk, held in the Rotunda Gallery on Wednesday, March 5, from 3:30-5 p.m. with a reception to follow. Following a welcome by Dr. Harriet Turner, the director of UNL's International Affairs, Kunc will moderate a discussion with the co-curator, Dr. Wael El Sabour El Kader, who was a visiting scholar at UNL from 2001-2003. Other participants include Anderson and international students and faculty of the Department of Art and Art History: Eriko Fujita, Trudie Teijink, Yinghua Zhu, and Assistant Professor Francisco Souto.
The discussion addresses experiences of coming to the U.S. to live and learning in new situations, the perceptions/stereotypes of what American society offers, and how artists reveal their own culture awareness through their art.
"In light of the current climate for political, social, cultural differences and global interdependence, this exhibition and discussion presents the value of knowing each 'other,' and that cultural exchange can be a way to bring awareness and communication," Kunc said.
For more information, call Kunc at (402) 472-5541.
