Past Exhibitions
With hundreds of exhibitions dating back to 1989, the list is continuously compiling. Scroll down to view the current list.
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TALES OF THE BULGARIAN ROSE: A JOURNEY INTO THE HEART OF BULGARIA
JANUARY 31–MARCH 26, 2023
In 1997, journalists Rick Truax and Anelia Dimitrova travelled to Bulgaria to chronicle its transition to democracy. The Berlin Wall had fallen eight years prior and like many other Eastern European countries Bulgaria was stumbling along an uncertain path from a state-run economy to a free-market one. Looking to show the impact these seismic political shifts had on real people, the authors went into the very heart of the country at the foot of the Balkan Mountains—the valley of the roses.
This series of photojournalistic images documents Bulgaria’s centuries-old rose industry amid the hopes, dreams and uncertainties that lined the road to democracy that summer of ’97. The prints in this show document the exhausting efforts of pickers in the fields, workers in the distilleries, everyday life in nearby villages, contrasted with the dancers and performers taking part in the annual festival celebrating the rich history, culture and folklore of the Bulgarian rose.
LUMINOUS PINNACLES
Works from the Permanent Collection
August 4–October 9, 2022
Drawn from the Hearst permanent collection, these works were made in the era of the art center’s creation—a time of experimentation, manipulation, and individualism. Waterloo artist Susan DeLoff’s lively yet tender paintings are featured alongside many other works. Experience Howard McConeghey’s Carousel from a new perspective and spend time with the labyrinthine surfaces by Jimmy Murray and Mary Snyder Behrens, and experimental photographs of Irving Herman.
DEAN SCHWARZ AND FAMILY AND FRIENDS
June 4–July 17, 2022
Visit the Hearst to experience the world of Dean Schwarz through his work and the work of some of his family and friends. Collaborative ceramics by sons Gunnar and Lane Schwarz and grandchildren Marguerite, William and Sophie are featured alongside Jeff Bromley’s boxelder and soft maple furniture. The inspiration for the exhibition came from the book Sixty Years With Clay created by Dean and Geraldine Schwarz with photographer and designer Jerry Grier.
Cedar Falls Student Art Exhibition
April 14 – May 15, 2022
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See what the kids are up to in this annual student art exhibition! The Hearst Center’s tradition of celebrating students and teachers continues this spring with an exhibition of work created in the art rooms of Cedar Falls Community Schools. Pottery, painting, and works on paper abound!
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Daydreams: Selected Works by Jerry Nissen
April 14–May 15, 2022
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This exhibition marks the first solo gallery exhibition by Jerry Nissen
and includes works spanning six decades. Nissen is a painter,
a beloved painting instructor for the Hearst, a former art teacher
for Cedar Falls High School, and a regular Thursday Painter.
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In his artist statement, Nissen writes, “We sometimes think of
dreams as little distractions, but it’s the dreamers who have
enriched and improved our lives. Children are the best dreamers
because, to them, nothing is impossible. Hopefully that spark is still
alive in all of us.”
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Hearst Photo Club Photography Show
April 14–May 15, 2022
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The Hearst Center’s Photo Club presents an exhibition of new works in the lower level of the Hearst. Photographs from Al Sundt, John McCormick, Kristin Pehl, Sheri Huber-Otting, and more are displayed. The Hearst Center Photo Club was established in 2018. To learn more about the club and to become a member, email the Hearst’s Program Coordinator, Sheri Huber-Otting.
Our Town: Reclaiming The Narrative
Guest Curated by Lenore Metrick-Chen
February 17-March 22, 2022
In honor of Black History Month, the Hearst Center presents Our
Town: Reclaiming the Narrative. The traveling exhibition is curated
by Dr. Lenore Metrick-Chen, professor of art and cultural history at
Drake University. Our Town invites viewers to consider local and
national histories presented through historical photographs and
newspaper articles that tell stories—often unknown—of Black
history in Iowa.
The show, as imagined for the Hearst Center, offers a “gallery
within a gallery” of artworks on loan from the Waterloo Center for
the Arts, the Grinnell College Museum of Art, and the UNI Gallery of
Art, as well as several national galleries and individual artists.
Artists include Kara Walker, Dread Scott, Lavern Madlock, Madai
Taylor, and others. The artworks are presented to reclaim and
illustrate historic narratives around race. Some artworks are
shown in pairs, others are coupled with historic artifacts. Since
2019, the exhibition has traveled to many venues across Iowa,
including schools, art museums, gymnasiums and Juneteenth
celebrations throughout Des Moines, Fort Dodge and Burlington,
and as part of annual community events such as “I’ll Make Me a
World” and the NAACP’s Kwanzaa celebration, both held in Des
Moines. As the installation moves, it gathers stories (via recorded
or filmed interviews), artwork, and ephemera from the lives of
local, often unsung, community builders.
Our Town: Reclaiming the Narrative and related programs are
made possible in part through funding from the Iowa Arts Council
Cultural Leadership Partners program, the Walter and Karla
Goldschmidt Foundation, the Berg Fund at the Cedar Falls
Community Foundation, and Friends of the Hearst.
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Eddie Bowles's Blues
February 17-March 27, 2022
Born in 1884, Eddie Bowles learned to play guitar in New Orleans at the birth of jazz and blues. In 1914, he came to Cedar Falls to work as a street paver, and he stayed here for the rest of his life, working in a variety of manual labor jobs and sharing his distinctive style of blues guitar with his many friends. Drawing on recently uncovered recordings, this exhibition celebrates the life and work of one of Cedar Falls’s most unique citizens.
This exhibition was prepared in conjunction with English Senior Seminar students in the UNI Department of Languages & Literatures under the advisement of Professor Jim O’Loughlin. Support for this project is provided by the Cedar Falls Community Foundation’s Saul and Joan Diamond Arts & History Fund, Humanities Iowa, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Pandemic Montages: A Series of Digital Online Stories by Roy R. Behrens
January 6-February 20, 2022
Pandemic Montages is a virtual exhibition seen here of sixty full-color digital montages produced by artist and graphic designer Roy R. Behrens. Made during a two-month period in 2021—at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic—each work was made by extracting, altering, and recombining public domain components, such as black and white vintage photographs, typographic fragments, and diagrams. In most cases, components are digitally “colorized,” sometimes using AI (Artificial Intelligence) processes. The resulting pictorial images are deliberately provocative, pesky, and more or less unsettling. By the targeted use of ambiguity, the works (as well as their titles) are intended to trigger each viewer’s interpretive efforts.
Roy R. Behrens is an Emeritus Professor and Distinguished Scholar who taught graphic design, illustration, and design history for 46 years at various universities and art schools, including the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Art Academy of Cincinnati, and (since 1990) the University of Northern Iowa.
The Night Sound Considered
December 21-January 30, 2022
The Night Sound Considered features a small grouping of artworks from the permanent collection reprised from our 2020 exhibition, The Night Sound, a show that embraced the winter season—its moodiness and call for introspection, as well as its darkness in both palette and subject. Visitors (in person or virtual) are encouraged to explore the themes of the original exhibition through a personal essay written by Robyn Groth, titled “A Stretch of Truth,” inspired by her visit in 2020. Robyn’s illustrated essay is available as a takeaway at the Hearst or online here.
The Night Sound Considered
Charles Matson Lume
December 10, 2021-January 30, 2022
Charles Matson Lume is a visual artist and Professor of Art and Interim Associate Dean of the School of Art and Design at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. His site-specific installations are created through the use of directed light on everyday materials (such as holographic stickers, lenses, and colored tapes), arranged to create moments for pause and reflection. This December, Lume worked in the Hearst galleries to create an installation dedicated to themes from The Soundand the Fury by William Faulkner. His work is often inspired by—and dedicated to—writers, poets, and themes found in their work.
Lume’s past exhibitions include installations at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland; Babel Kunst, Trondheim, Norway; Hunter College, New York City, NY; and the Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN. He has received fellowships from the Bush Foundation, Jerome Foundation, and the Minnesota State Arts Board, and participated in international artist residencies in Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Ireland. Lume is based in St. Paul, MN.
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Consequential Narratives:
Selected Works by Duane Slick
October 7 – November 21, 2021
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Consequential Narratives brings together work from several recent
series by Meskwaki painter, printmaker, and storyteller Duane Slick,
including his most recent Arias for a Coyote Opera. In the Arias, Slick
creates washes as large-scale backdrops for unfolding narrative
elements that allude to moments of drama or consequence found in
the 1976 Robert Wilson/Philip Glass opera, Einstein on the Beach.
The coyote appears frequently, often taking center stage.
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Born in Waterloo, IA, Slick earned his BFA in painting from the
University of Northern Iowa and his MFA in painting from the
University of California, Davis. He has taught painting and
printmaking at the Rhode Island School of Design since 1995. His
work has been exhibited widely—most recently at the Albert Merola
Gallery in Provincetown, MA, and at RK Projects in New York City—
and is included in the collections of the National Museum of the
American Indian in New York City, the Eiteljorg Museum in
Indianapolis, IN, and the De Cordova Museum in Lincoln, MA, among
many others.
October 7 – November 21, 2021
Diaspora of Meskwaki Creativity: Works by Mary Young Bear, Elleh Driscoll, and Dazegon Kapayou
Gallery visits are available by appointment during non-public hours on Mondays. Please request your appointment at least one week in advance by calling the front desk at 319-273-8641.
Works by Meskwaki artists Mary Young Bear, Elleh Driscoll and Dazegon Kapayou are featured in this exhibition. This exhibition is being presented in conjunction with Consequential Narratives.
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Moon of the Snow Blind:
Text and Pictures From Gary Kelley
July 29-September 19, 2021
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The Spirit Lake massacre in March of 1857 was a dark moment in
Midwestern history. The massacre begins in NW Iowa and ventures
into nearby states, including South Dakota, the pipestone area of
Minnesota, and finally concluding in St. Paul, MN, at a reception
with the Minnesota Governor.
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Artist and illustrator Gary Kelley has imagined the saga of the Spirit
Lake massacre in graphic novel style. Visit the galleries at the
Hearst to jump into the story and experience the people and
landscape through his lens.
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The graphic novels will be available for purchase at the Hearst
Center. Select works of art will be available for purchase.
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North and South: Berenice Abbott's U.S. Route 1
July 29-September 12, 2021
This exhibition of fifty images visualizes Berenice Abbott’s summer journey in 1954 along the length of U.S. Route 1. Beginning in New York City, she and two companions traveled south to Key West. From there, she turned around and drove north to the highway’s terminus in Fort Kent, Maine, arriving in September. During the trip, Abbott made more than four hundred eight by ten-inch photographs, and more than two thousand smaller images using her Rollieflex camera. This exhibition is funded in part by the Hearst’s Robert and Shirley Berg Fund at the Cedar Falls Community Foundation and organized by the Syracuse University Art Museum.
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First Fifty: New Traditions
June 3-July 11, 2021
Opening reception: Thursday, June 3, 2021 from 5:00-6:00 p.m.
This year we’re looking forward to seeing what you’ve been up to. What did you make with your hands in 2020 + 2021? Gather up your latest project + plan to participate in our ninth First Fifty exhibition. The first fifty ready-to-hang works of art to arrive at the Hearst Center will be included in this exhibition. Are you a weaver? A quilter? Did you create something out of random materials you had on hand? An epic TikTok perhaps?
June 3-July 11, 2021
Colloquy: Works by Solange Roberdeau
June 3-July 11, 2021
The Hearst Center for the Arts is featuring a selection of intimate
works on paper by Bay Area artist, Solange Roberdeau. Roberdeau
uses a variety of materials and techniques to create her work,
including weaving with paper and yarn, delicate metal leafing,
drawing with sumi ink, and the Japanese marbling technique
suminagashi (also known as “floating ink”). The artist’s interests
include the communications, abstract and literal, that occur
throughout the process of artmaking, between viewer, materials
and environment. The theme of the exhibition is the colloquy–or
dialogue–between the artist and the viewer, as well as between
sets of images displayed together, and the relationships between
the materials they are made from.
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Solange Roberdeau lives and works in Northern California. She
earned her MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art,
Baltimore, MD, and holds a BFA in Printmaking from the Rhode
Island School of Design. Providence, RI. She has shown at the
Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, NM; the International Print Center,
Manhattan, NY; Arcade Gallery, Cairo, Egypt; and the Institute Library,
New Haven, CT. She has received Artist in Residence fellowships
from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Taos, NM; the Josef and Anni
Albers Foundation, Bethany, CT; and Can Serrat, El Bruc, Spain. She
is represented by Municipal Bonds, San Francisco, CA.
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VIRTUAL! CEDAR FALLS STUDENT ART SHOW
April 16-June 1, 2021
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This exhibition features works by students from elementary and secondary schools in Cedar Falls. The emerging talent of young artists provides an impressive and diverse display of work in all media including ceramics, photography, printmaking and painting.
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Playful Investigations by Kate Brennan Hall
April 16-May 16, 2021
Dazzle Hour: Tuesday, May 11 from 5:00-6:00 p.m.
Join us for artmaking, rice krispies and kombucha.
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This exhibition features works from the daily practice of illustrator
Kate Brennan Hall. As a professional illustrator and printmaker Kate
enjoys the challenges of deadlines and the project’s parameters
from clients. But longevity as a maker means that it’s important to
keep going back to that feeling from childhood that led to all of this
—the act of playing and experimenting without an end goal in sight:
just pure exploration. Kate Brennan Hall is a graduate of the
Minneapolis College of Art + Design where she focused on
illustration + printmaking. Clients include Target, Mastercard, Blue
Cross Blue Shield, American Airlines, and Doubleday; she has
exhibited her work in Europe and the United States. Her current
projects include working on product lines for the home that feature
funny dogs and cats along with many other designs. The main
theme of her work: she seeks to elevate the ordinary and necessary
things that awaken us to the beauty all around us. Follow Kate
Brennan Hall on Instagram and visit her website! Did you know that
many of her works of art are for sale.
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As part of the exhibition Playful Investigations, digital artwork by Martha Marie Hall will also be on view. Hall is a printmaker, illustrator and animator based in New York City. Martha received her B.A. in Studio Art at Luther College in Decorah, IA. Her work is inspired by the absurdity of social contracts and deconstructing interpersonal encounters. Inspired by comics, camp, and the unease of daily life, her practice includes digital illustration, painting, and woodcuts.
Sky Bergman: Portraits
April 16-May 16, 2021
Sky Bergman is an accomplished, award-winning photographer and filmmaker. “Lives Well Lived,” Sky’s directorial debut, celebrates the incredible wit and wisdom of adults 75 to 100 years old who are living their lives to the fullest. Portraits on display are of several subjects from the documentary. Bergman was the former chair of the Art & Design department at Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, CA and is currently Professor of Photography and Video. She is working on two new short films which encourage intergenerational connections and a feature length film celebrating love. Join us as we look into what makes a life well lived and how creativity affects longevity, happiness and personal fulfillment. This series is supported in part with funding from the Iowa Arts Council, a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.
Spring Break 2021 Camp Illustrations
April 16-May 16, 2021
Over Spring Break we welcomed a limited group of artists aged 4–9 years old to embark on a week of story writing, collaborative narrative building, and individual illustration. Throughout the week the artists used a variety of materials to tell their story visually.
Teacher l Student
February 16 – March 28, 2021
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Through teaching and learning, techniques and ideas circulate; they marinate; they reemerge. Concepts and methods – some visible and others invisible—can provide a through line in work from teachers and their students. Move through a gathered selection of intergenerational artwork and discern what was picked up, what was embraced, and what was left behind.
Participating artists include: Donna R. Charging, Teresa Cole, Tim Dooley, Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, Shirley Eliason Haupt, Anita Jung, Ann Renée Lighter, Janice Marin, Dana Potter, Jo Siddens, Duane Slick, Linnea Sumner, Kyjuan D.E. Washington, and Aaron Wilson.
The Night Sound: Works from the
Permanent Collection
December 18, 2020 – January 31, 2021
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As we mark the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, we are embracing the season with a selection of moody and introspective
prints, paintings and sculptures, all drawn from the Hearst
Permanent Collection and featuring a restrained palette. The
exhibition features work by Ukrainian-American sculptor Louise
Nevelson (1899 –1988), Hungarian-American painter and printmaker Gabor Peterdi (1915-2001), American painter Gregorio Prestopino
(1907–1984), and others. Lean into the darkness with us as we wait
for the days to get longer and brighter.
Hard Won-Not Done: Original Illustrations
by Gary Kelley
October 29-December 6, 2020
Hard Won – Not Done featured twelve original monotype and pastel illustrations by Gary Kelley, who was commissioned in 2019 by the
League of Women Voters to create the portrait series celebrating a
century of Iowa women. Suffragists, trailblazers, politicians and
activists are pictured, including Edna Griffin, Carrie Chapman Catt, Elizabeth Catlett and Donna Reed. The PBS documentary, The Vote,
which tells the dramatic culmination story of the hard-fought
campaign waged by American women for the right to vote, will also
be screening in the galleries throughout the duration of the show.
As part of the yearlong celebration of the 19th Amendment centennial anniversary, the portraits were used to create a 2020 calendar for the public, sponsored by Veridian Credit Union. Within the calendar pages, each portrait was augmented with a biographical sketch by writer
Cydney Kelley, which will also accompany the works on display at the Hearst Center. A limited number of calendars will be available at the Hearst Center for no charge. A selection of Kelley’s original
illustrations will be for sale and can be purchased through the Hearst Center.
The PBS documentary, The Vote, which tells the dramatic culmination story of the hard-fought campaign waged by American women for
the right to vote, will also be screening in the galleries throughout
the duration of the show.
[Credit: The Vote, American Experience, PBS, Available to watch on PBS.org]
No One Knows: Original Book Illustrations
by Nancy Price
October 29-December 6, 2020
This exhibition features twelve original pen and ink illustrations hand-drawn by Nancy Price. The illustrations accompanied the published
text of the book No One Knows, which was released in 2004. The illustrations were gifted to the Hearst Center by Price in 2003 and
are now a part of the permanent collection. The illustrations are a
visual accompaniment to Price’s story of a Miranda, a young woman living in Cedar Falls during World War II. Price describes the novel
as “…a love letter to Cedar Falls and my friends.” The installation will include short excerpts from the novel.
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Marjorie Nuhn
September 3-October 11, 2020
This exhibition features the artwork of American artist Marjorie Nuhn
(1898-1988) from the permanent collection, which has been
assembled through generous gifts from James and Meryl Hearst,
her brother Ferner Nuhn, and many others.
Marjorie Nuhn was a well-known regional artist based
n Cedar Falls. She studied under Adrian Dornbush at the Stone City
Art Colony, attended the Chicago Art Institute, and spent time in
Santa Fe, Mexico City, Guatemala and Antigua. Nuhn (1898-1988) is
known forher loose, lively watercolor paintings of cities and
landscapes of the American Southwest in addition to scenes of her
home state. Born and raised in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Nuhn graduated
from Iowa State Teachers College, now the University of Northern
Iowa, and went on to attend the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, the
Chicago Art Institute, and most notably, Grant Wood’s Stone City Art
Colony in the summers of 1932 and 1933. Nuhn’s first exhibition of
paintings was mounted at the Cedar Falls Woman’s Club in 1933.
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Stonehenge Series by KC Franks
July 7-August 16, 2020
KC Franks, curious and capable artist, teacher, and craftsperson
was born and raised in Iowa. Spending time in Los Angeles,
California as a courier for the US Navy and as a cameraman
back in Iowa at KWWL, Franks was always interested in learning.
He earned a BFA from Iowa State Teachers College in 1961 and in
1965 earned an MFA from the University of Wisconsin. Franks also
studied art history in Guadalajara, Mexico. Franks was beloved by
students as the head of the art department at North Iowa Area
Community College from 1965–1985. At his death in 1985, Franks
left behind a large body of work ranging from watercolors to
prints, including thousands of sketches for wood block designs.
All works are on loan from the collection of Franks’ daughter,
Penne Franks Simon. The exhibition is made possible in part by
funding from the Robert and Shirley Berg Fund at the Cedar Falls
Community Foundation.
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Former student Larry Gregson shares some thoughts on the late
KC Franks. “Sensing his own mortality, he transitioned in his last
years from prints to drawing because he could produce more
works in the time he had left. These later drawings were designed
to be mistaken for prints.”
Effigy Mounds by Scott Robert Hudson
July 7-August 16, 2020
Scott Robert Hudson’s work investigates the intersections of ecology,
archeology, storytelling, memory and place. The vibrant, abstract
paintings in this series are inspired by Iowa’s Effigy Mounds National
Monument. The artist reconfigures the geometry of the prehistoric
mound forms as seen from above, aerially—specifically the bear and
bird mounds—to craft a new vocabulary of contemporary symbols.
In doing so, the artist reveals the black characters, or negative voids,
which could only exist by the rearrangement of these specific
prehistoric forms. As a native Iowan, the artist finds Effigy Mounds the
most interesting and beautiful corner of the state. Walking among the
mounds, one is reminded that our early-settler ancestors are one
chapter in the long story of this landscape.
Scott Robert Hudson divides his time between Cedar Falls and Reno,
Nevada. He has exhibited extensively across the United States and
has works in private and public collections, including the Minneapolis
Institute of Arts and the Chico Museum of Natural History. He is
currently represented by the Peyton Wright Gallery in Santa Fe, New
Mexico. For more about the artist, visit his website.
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Soo Hostetler: Childhood Fantasy
July 7 – August 16, 2020
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Childhood Fantasy presents the artist’s rediscovery of the beauty of
Korean folk art. Hostetler’s conceptual theories of design are rooted
in the popular themes of Minhwa art forms that were developed
during the late Joseon era (1392–1897). Hostetler creates modern
expressions of Minhwa-style by interpreting the traditional
symbolism of the characters through her own imagination of
narrative storytelling and through using digital technology. In her
work, the written messages are drawn from the artist’s memories of
Korean fairy tales and her cultural heritage. To portray an innocence
of mind, visual and written messages are delivered through the eyes
of a child. Using nonverbal structure enhances the perceptual
capabilities of the human mind and spirit. There are two important
elements that support and contribute to this unique visual approach
. First, a narrative form of poetic storytelling is presented visually and
conveys human emotions. Second, a morphological structure of
illustration is developed to portray magical dimensions of symbolism
that demonstrate the power of visual communication. Soo Hostetler
is Associate Professor of Graphic Design at The University of
Northern Iowa.
Also on view: A selection of two animations by Soo Hostetler in the
Dresser-Robinson Gallery for the duration of the exhibition.
Floral Doors uses kinetic typography to symbolize the beauty and
meaning of floral ornamentation of Buddhist halls, and expresses
how the artist found the truth of life through Buddhism. The
animation Festive Geometry is inspired by Mozart’s Piano Sonata
K.333, which reveals evidence of the Golden Section in its structure.
Throughout the work, Hostetler applies the harmonious elements
influenced by the Golden Proportion.
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