'Jekyll Grand Dining Sea Mist, We Too Lived' features works of the class of 2019 MFA candidates.

Department of Art and Design announces October exhibitions

Article by Diana Milburn September 27, 2017

Public receptions for both set Oct. 3

The University of Delaware Department of Art and Design presents its second round of fall 2017 exhibitions, which will open with two free public receptions on Tuesday, Oct. 3, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on UD’s Newark campus.

At Taylor Hall, Jekyll Grand Dining Sea Mist, We Too Lived welcomes the class of 2019 MFA candidates to UD.

At Recitation Gallery, Great Expectations: de/reconstructed turns the spotlight on the art of Gregg Silvis, associate University librarian for Systems and Metadata Services at UD.

At Taylor Hall

Jekyll Grand Dining Sea Mist, We Too Lived, a first year master of fine arts student exhibition, features works by Tim Austin, Camilo Cardénas, Mariel Essick, Natalie Hutchings, Donte Moore, Benjamin Lee Sperry, Mafe Valero, Sam Whalen and Jacob Zimmerman, with Visiting Fulbright Scholar Esin Aykanat Avci.

This exhibition, on view through Friday, Nov. 17, showcases the exemplary work created by graduate students entering the two-year MFA program in fall 2017.

The Department of Art and Design offers an intimate interdisciplinary master of fine art program with exceptional funding and teaching experience opportunities. Each year the faculty graduate committee reviews a competitive pool of applicants to the program. Only 10 students are accepted each year. This annual exhibition introduces their creative work to the general public and the University at large.

'Great Expectations: de/reconstructed' features works created by Gregg Silvis, based on the physical text of the novel 'Great Expectations.'

At Recitation Hall Gallery

Great Expectations: de/reconstructed by Gregg Silvis will be on view through Friday, Nov. 3.

Three talks related to the exhibition are scheduled at the gallery in October. Silvis will speak from noon-1 p.m, Wednesday, Oct. 11, and from 2-3 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 24. Iain Crawford, associate professor of English at UD, will discuss “The Identity of Things: Dickens, Great Expectations and Constructing the World from 2-3 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 19.

Surrounded by over 2 million physical books every day at work, Silvis recently created a series of works based on the physical text of a novel. In Great Expectations: de/reconstructed, each sculpted object is comprised of the entire physical text of the Dickens novel, re-imagined to see the entire text of the novel from a novel, nonbook perspective.

Silvis has been a librarian at the University of Delaware Library since 1994. Currently the associate University librarian for Systems and Metadata Services, he and his staff are responsible for computing infrastructure throughout the library, the cataloging of all library collections and technical support of digital scholarship projects across campus. He was a French horn player in a previous life, playing in orchestras in northeastern Ohio and in Mexico City.

Department of Art and Design

The University of Delaware Department of Art & Design, part of a distinguished research and teaching University, believes that making art is an expansive process The department has a special responsibility to develop students' individual artistic practices, as well as their critical understanding of art and design. In line with the University’s strategic plan, it promotes in students the role of art and design in understanding and expressing the human experience. The department cultivates an inclusive atmosphere of diversity, discovery, experimentation, problem-solving and creative thinking. The department’s approach is learner centered with the aim of educating socially and culturally engaged artists and designers who comprehend and challenge definitions and assumptions with a wide spectrum of artistic production. Its graduates enter the world equipped to adapt to the rapidly evolving world as creators capable of affecting culture and activating the future.