News East Carolina University Artists Present at SOFA 
A little adornment went a long way when Linda Darty, professor of metals at East Carolina University’s School of Art and Design, wore one of her student’s brooches at a conference.
Last February, Darty wore a wood and silver piece created by graduate student Dan DiCaprio at a Society of North American Goldsmiths meeting where Charon Kransen happened to be exhibiting. Kransen, who established Charon Kransen Arts in New York City’s Chelsea Gallery District in 1993, asked to meet DiCaprio, then ordered five new works from the MFA candidate.
“Those pieces went to SOFA New York in May, then got connected with SOFA Chicago and the International Design Fair,” DiCaprio says. The two SOFA fairs—Sculptural Objects and Functional Art—along with the design fair, are the three largest and most prestigious events of their kind in North America. SOFA Chicago is the most significant, with works presented by 100 galleries and dealers from 16 nations. Last year over 35,000 people attended the event, purchasing works for museums and exclusive collections.
“Prior to Linda Darty wearing my brooch, I was focused on teaching,” DiCaprio says of his post-graduation plans. “Now I know there are options out there. I’ll pursue being a studio jeweler first.”
DiCaprio will join East Carolina University alumnae Caroline Gore (MFA ’01) and Sharon Massey (MFA ’06) to present an emerging artists lecture at SOFA Chicago on November 7. The three artists were selected independently, without the organizers having knowledge of their institutional affiliation. They are the only three emerging artists speaking at the event.
At the lecture, DiCaprio will discuss the inspiration for his pieces. “My work mostly references natural forms, like plant and animal biology and how those forms are adapted and communicated culturally,” he says. Creating organic shapes from African blackwood, DiCaprio installs hundreds of silver wires. “The effect resembles hair,” he explains. “It’s an organic look that I can trim and comb to make more personal.”
Gore, who serves as an assistant professor and metals/jewelry area coordinator at Western Michigan University, will present information about a body of work developed as a result of a summer she spent in Florence, Italy. Gore re-contextualized ordinary spaces in Florence, then created a wearable reference to the original site. When first exhibited, Gore showcased an adorned environmental photograph, such as 24k gold foil embossed on street pavers in Italy, beside a wearable brooch crafted from silver and gold, referencing and reflecting the environmental art and image.
Massey is presently a visiting instructor at Purdue University. Her work, which has appeared in books such as
1000 Rings and The Art of Enameling, defines preciousness through sentimentality, intimacy and emotion. Massey pays homage to goldsmithing traditions through technique and format, while challenging conventional materials and their value. The pieces she’ll present at SOFA Chicago are created with iron wire and cotton muslin.
Massey and DiCaprio are represented by Charon Kransen Arts. Gore is represented by Ornamentum in Hudson, New York.
Visit www.ecu.edu/soad to learn more about East Carolina University’s School of Art and Design.
Holland Receives Highest Honor Dwight M. Holland, an avid collector of ceramics and staunch supporter of the arts at East Carolina University, has been awarded the Order of the Cupola.
Holland gifted over 400 ceramic pieces to the School of Art and Design in 1998. The collection features contemporary and historical ceramics and is invaluable for its significance and uniqueness. The Dwight M. Holland Ceramics Teaching Collection is intended for hands-on use, to provide students and researchers an immediate and intimate experience with ceramic works that are ordinarily placed in untouchable museum collections.
Ultimately, Holland intends to gift a total of 1,000 pieces of pottery and ceramics to the university, creating one of the most comprehensive collections of ceramic work housed by an academic institution.
The Order of the Cupola honor was bestowed upon Holland during the Dwight M. Holland Ceramics Collection Exhibition Symposium: Ceramics in Higher Education and its Future. The symposium ran during an exhibition of 80 pieces from Holland’s personal collection, showcased in the Wellington B. Gray Gallery at the School of Art and Design.
The Order of the Cupola’s name is taken from the campus’ most historic landmark, the Old Austin cupola, a replica of which was installed in 1996 to symbolize the university’s commitment to the traditions of the past and to the promises of the future. Individuals, businesses and foundations that have made cumulative gifts of $100,000 or more to the university are recognized in the Order.
Tunetowers of Maine
The Maine Center for Creativity and the Sprague Energy Corporation announced five semi-finalists in the Art All Around International Design Competition.
On Tuesday, August 12, East Carolina University Bo Newsome and collaborative partner Sara Lambert Bloom present their artistic vision to beautify 16 oil tanks located in the port of South Portland, Maine.
On entry into the competition, Newsome, a professor of oboe, begged the indulgence of the judging panel, explaining that he and Bloom are musicians competing among visual artists to deliver an intricate submission: “Our proposal stops one step short of what every other proposal will probably excel at: submitting a sophisticated presentation of the actual graphic art to be painted on the tanks.”
Newsome and Bloom’s vision was selected among over 600 visual artists from nearly 60 nations.
“Tunetowers of Maine” will, on selection, combine graphic art, song and technological innovation to create an aesthetically engaging landscape in which the oil tanks “sing” to Portland and the world. Using computer software, Newsome and Bloom propose to graphically reproduce songs representing the history and culture of Maine, including works associated with woodsmen, Penobscot and Passamaquoddy singers, mariners, Acadian fiddlers and even a piece representing the Chickadee, Maine’s official bird. Other works include commissions for the Portland Symphony Orchestra and a children’s anthem, to be composed for and by the children of Maine for the installation.
The music will be transformed into animated graphic musical notation and painted on the sides of the tanks. The top of each tank will be illustrated with graphic notation in a round format.
“Portland’s harbor is symbolically and literally its gateway to the world,” Newsome writes. “It provides a portal to the outer island communities and lands beyond. The towers are reminiscent of the 15 year-round island communities that lie outside the harbor, each self-contained yet inexorably linked to the outside world. The round notation viewed from above will look like islands, a constant reminder of these communities and their importance to the fabric of Maine.”
In addition to the commissioned works and the art itself, Newsome and Bloom propose a series of interactive kiosks to be mounted around Portland at areas with sightlines to the Tunetowers, including histories, maps and music.
Newsome says the strength of the proposal exists in the partnerships it proposes to develop.
A finalist will be named after August 12.
World Creativity Summit Taps ECU’s Arnold
In June, Professor of Art Education Alice Arnold delivered remarks celebrating American creativity in the twentieth century at the second World Creativity Summit in Taipei, Taiwan.
Arnold, a guest of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), was one of 81 international expert educators in the fields of art, music, dance and theatre selected to attend.
In addition to presenting, Arnold collaborated with art educators Rebecca Thomas (Farmville Middle School) and Barb Andrews (New Palestine High School, Indiana), who directed student art projects on the theme of “Who am I? Who are you?” The works were then shipped to Taiwan for exhibition as a part of the summit.
The purpose of the biennial is twofold—to understand the relationships between human creativity and the cultivation of knowledge-based societies built upon the practice of sustainable development, global solidarity, cooperation and human rights; and to develop strategic partnerships and international projects which influence how global civil societies and their governments understand and create a visionary future.
Arnold presently serves as the past-president of the U.S. Society for Education Through Art (USSEA).
Publications New 2008 of REVUE now available
The annual magazine of the College of Fine Arts and Communication, REVUE, is available in print. Contact
Michael Crane for more info.
