Colby College Art Department

10/02/2024

The 2024 Fall issue of the Maine Arts Journal is out! Its topic is The Portrait and Beyond.

For this fall issue, we invited our contributors to tell us not only how they approach the figure and the role it plays in their work, but also to reflect upon the idea of portraiture. We hoped to read how the genre (including self-portraiture and portraits of places) might be deployed in an expansi...

10/01/2024

Come meet author and artist Steven Weinberg '06 and hear his talk on "Playing with Color." Tonight at 5:30 p.m in the Greene Block + Studios, Downtown Waterville.

05/15/2024

The 2024 Senior Exhibition is on view through Sunday, May 26 in the Joan Dignam Schmaltz Gallery of Art at the Paul J. Schupf Art Center, Downtown Waterville. Congratulations to all of our seniors!

Seniors studying studio art have spent all year working on capstone projects in disciplines that include printmaking, photography, painting, and sculpture. This show serves as the culmination of their studies. An exhibition catalogue containing images, artists’ statements, and analyses of works in...

04/18/2024

NEW COURSE THIS FALL - Sign up now!

The Alphabet of Creation: Ben Shahn's Illustrated Books
AR/JS397, Humanities Lab, Four Credit Hours Fall 2024,
Tuesday, 1-3:30pm
Prof. Véronique Plesch

This is a unique opportunity to study first-hand original artwork by a celebrated 20th-century American artist, for whom art was a means of advancing social causes, expressing intersectional identities, and exploring issues related to mysticism and spirituality.

In 2024, the Colby College Museum of Art acquired eight books with original art and calligraphy by Ben Shah (1898-1969). Students in this Humanities Lab will study these extraordinary works along with Shah's illustrated books, considering them in a range of contexts, such as the artist's life and career (and in particular his social activism and Jewish identity) and book arts (book design and production, calligraphy, illustration, etc.), while reflecting on websites as a format for visual material and art historical research.

Students are expected to complete research and writing assignments, make oral presentations, and contribute to the creation of a website.

Prerequisite: Any W1 course.

Students from all classes and majors, who bring interesting perspectives to the course, are most welcome! Don't hesitate to contact me at [email protected]

04/03/2024

The Spring issue of the Maine Arts Journal is here!

Professor of Art Véronique Plesch wrote the introduction to the issue as well as an essay for her "Art Historical Musings" column titled "Dark Dreams." In the essay, she discusses publications that affirm the fundamental role of dreams for the Surrealist ethos and works by visual artists who had “the courage to dream” and thus face the dark recesses of the unconscious mind.

Springing from our celebration of Surrealism, officially born a century ago, we called for contributors to reflect upon a concept central to the movement: the unconscious. We combined the notion with a few related ones: the unknown and the unsaid. This theme, we noted in our call for contributions,....

04/01/2024

Fantastic Opportunity - Calling All College Students! Student Day Exploring Whitney Biennial 2024! This coming Friday, April 5, 2024.

RSVP is required for this special celebration. This program is free for undergraduate and graduate students with Student ID or Whitney Student Membership Card.

College and graduate students are invited to join us to explore Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing, gain insight into career development, make art, and connect with fellow students.

10/27/2023

Please join us on Thursday, November 9, 4:00 pm, to celebrate the opening of the 2023 Faculty Biennial exhibition at the Colby Museum. The exhibition features works in a diverse range of media explored by art department faculty members Bevin Engman, Gary Green, Amanda Lilleston, Audrey Shakespear, and Takahiro Suzuki.

A public program featuring the artists in conversation will be held in Given Auditorium and moderated by Amy Rahn, Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Maine at Augusta and Director of UMA’s Charles Danforth Gallery. A joint reception with the Faculty + Staff Mumble will follow in the museum.

The 2023 Faculty Biennial will be on view from November 9 to December 10, 2023. For questions, please contact Deb Thurston at [email protected].

10/25/2023

For the fall issue of the Maine Arts Journal, Professor of Art Véronique Plesch wrote the introduction as well as her "Art Historical Musings" column with an essay titled "Art Matter." Plesch also did an interview with photographer Rosamond Purcell and compiled and introduced texts by art critic Lucy Lippard on the notion of "Dematerialization in Art." Colby’s participation in this issue is larger than ever: alumni Jim Condron '92 and Duncan Hewitt ’71 and Colby’s new Assistant Professor of Digital Media Takahiro Suzuki contributed essays.

For this issue we invited our contributors to reflect upon the many ways in which their work engages with the notion of materiality, considering the different stages of the creative process, starting with their choice of medium and how tools and materials interact, all the way to the tangible object...

10/18/2023

Elle Pérez will be giving a talk this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. in Given Auditorium, Bixler. Free and open to the public. All are welcome!

10/03/2023

Assistant Professor of Art Amanda Lilleston has an exhibition on view at the Zillman Art Museum from September 15 through December 30, 2023. If you are in the Bangor area, please stop by!

September 15 – December 30, 2023   Maine-based artist Amanda Lilleston explores biological narratives through woodcut printing and collage in her exhibition deep field. The prints highlight the concept of transformation, depicted in burgeoning colors of flora. Lilleston began this body of work ab...

09/29/2023

This is a great article on how Professor of Art Véronique Plesch, over three decades of teaching, has inspired Colby students and others to engage directly with the art world.

Professor of Art Véronique Plesch looks back on three decades at Colby

09/19/2023

Art Department Meet and Greet ~ tomorrow, September 20 from 4 to 5 PM in the Grossman Lobby. A time for art majors, minors, and those interested in art to meet the faculty and learn more about the opportunities available in the Art Department. Pizza and refreshments provided. All are welcome!