In Brief: October 23

View partial eclipse safely at Observatory

The BGSU Observatory will be open to view the partial eclipse of the sun from 5:30 p.m. until sunset today (Oct. 23), if the sky is clear.  Visitors should come to the lobby of the Planetarium, and will be escorted to the Observatory. A telescope in the Observatory will be equipped with a filter so it is safe to look at the sun. Looking at the sun without proper eye protection will cause one to go blind.

In an eclipse of the sun, the moon moves between the Earth and the sun. In this eclipse, the moon will cover about half of the sun.

Teaching and Learning Conference Call for Proposals

The Center for Faculty Excellence has issued a Call for Proposals for the ninth annual BGSU Teaching and Learning Conference, “Prism of Possibilities: Looking through to the Future.”  A forum for discussion of innovations in teaching and learning as well as a celebration of educators and their constant drive to improve, the conference will take place March 5-7, 2015, in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union. The deadline to submit abstracts is Nov. 28.

Session tracks include Engaged Learning, Assessment Strategies, Course and Assignment Design, and Engaging Classroom and Course Technologies.

This year’s keynote speaker will be Dr. James Therrel, past director of the Faculty Center for Innovative Teaching at Central Michigan University. His keynote address is entitled “Focused Learning in a World of Distractions.”

For more information, contact Karen Meyers at meyersk@bgsu.edu or 419-372-7874.

‘Distinguished’ exhibit honors former BGSU art faculty

Three faculty artists who helped build the reputation of the School of Art will return for a show of their drawing, photography and painting in the exhibit “Distinguished.” Tom Hilty, Ron Jacomini, and Bob Mazur launched a generation of young artists and shaped the School of Art during an era of growth.

The three professors emeriti of art all retired from teaching in 1998 but continue to produce their art. They have selected a range of recent and older works for the exhibit, which opens Oct. 25 in the Willard Wankelman Gallery in the Fine Arts Center and runs through Nov. 22. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 6-9 p.m. Thursdays and 1-4 p.m. Sundays.

They will discuss their work at 6 p.m. Nov. 17 in the Thomas B. and Kathleen M. Donnell Theatre at the Wolfe Center for the Arts. Both the exhibit and the talk are free and open to the public.

The former director of the School of Art, Hilty taught for 32 years and oversaw the construction of the new wing of the Fine Arts Center that opened in 1992 and houses the galleries and classrooms. He remained an active working artist whose works were shown nationwide, including major shows in Los Angeles and Chicago and commissions for the Sears headquarters in Chicago, Vidal Sassoon in New York and multiple others. He was represented by four major galleries and was chosen for a special exhibition in Washington of “Artists Who Teach.”

In 1980, he was selected as one of four artists featured in a public television series on “Arts in America.”

The BGSU arts-support organization Medici Circle twice presented him its Il Magnifico Award, in 1983, as the outstanding teacher in the School of Art, and again in 1985 for creative achievement, teaching and service.

His art, while predominantly figurative, combines free abstract areas overlaid with drawn sections in Conte crayon and pastel, creating a complex whole. In the early part of his career he worked exclusively in graphite and charcoal but later expanded to other mediums.

Jacomini, an award-winning graphic designer and photographer, began teaching at BGSU in 1965, the same year he received his master of fine arts degree from the University. He taught his first class in photography in 1970, introducing it as a major area of study to the school in 1975. He was named a professor in 1978 and served as the chair of the design division from 1981-98. He was also a principal in Jacomini and Duda, a design and illustration studio, from 1986-92, with fellow art teacher Tony Duda.

He worked only in black and white photography from 1970-92, transitioning to color photography in 1994 using the 120 format and Ektacolor prints.

His photographs were shown in galleries across the country, from New York to Los Angeles, and from Asheville, N.C., to Aspen, Colo. They were also exhibited in Tokyo and are held in international collections.

Jacomini featured the human figure in a variety of settings, using techniques such as straight shots, split imagery and moving figures. A series of photos of water inspired his colleague Mazur to create a series of related paintings.

On the design front, Jacomini’s design won regional and national recognition and was featured in numerous publications. Work he did for BGSU, including a brochure for the Master of Business Administration program, won an American College Public Relations award.

A prolific artist, Mazur often employed a technique beginning with a flat pallet of sponge rubber and then layering and incising paint on it so that the eventual painting took on an almost sculptural texture and appearance. He later worked in mixed media and acrylic on canvas.

Using organic forms and, sometimes strong sexual influences, his work makes a direct statement, one reviewer observed. Other works were more abstract and took nature or water as their subject.

His paintings appeared in individual and group shows nationally and were represented in numerous collections including those of Mid-Am Bank, Merill-Lynch, the Detroit Renaissance Center, Dow Chemicals, Owens-Illinois and several celebrities.

In 2009, Target began selling prints of his work on canvas through its website. He was also included in a feature in The Artist’s Magazine on top artists over 60.

Mazur served as acting director of the School of Art in 1975 and was the longtime director of graduate studies. He also received the Il Magnifo Award from the Medici Circle. In 1990, Undergraduate Student Government named him the top teacher in the School of Art.

“Distinguished” is presented with support from the Ohio Arts Council.