Jocelyn Sands, President of the MWSU AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) Student Design Group, was awarded "The Robert A. Vartabedian President's Outstanding Leader Award" for her work in leading the organization through fundraisers, events and service projects in 2019-2020. This award recognizes an outstanding individual who advanced the mission of their student organization whole, challenged and encouraged the membership to advance new initiatives, acquire new skills, and prepared the group for leadership transition and ongoing success. The award recipient must display a commitment to leadership development, membership engagement, innovation, and cross-campus collaboration.

Students enrolled in the ART180 Fibers course are utilizing applied learning skills to create fiber art pieces for their Spring Semester Culminating Experience.

One project is Sewing Protective Face Masks which will be donated to various local and national hospitals in need. Due to the dire shortage of PPE (personal protective equipment) in particular face masks, students are diligently sewing masks for their families, friends and various hospitals/nursing facilities. Student, Robin Skaggs, shared her project with us.

39 art history and painting students from the Art Department engaged in applied learning during spring break with a trip to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas (March 7-8, 2020).

At Crystal Bridges students had the opportunity to visit a Frank Lloyd Wright house, Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room, and gain insight into the inner workings of an art museum through a behind-the-scenes tour with Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Curator.

Students also visited The Momentary, a new contemporary art space, where they viewed State of the Art 2020, an exhibition presenting insight into what’s happening in the art world right now.

Other stops included the 21c Museum Hotel and the Precious Moments Chapel.

The trip was organized and led by Kathy Liao (Assistant Professor of Painting and Printmaking) and Dr. Madeline Rislow (Assistant Professor of Art History) and made possible by generous support from a Missouri Western Arts Society grant and the Applied Learning Fund.

Lindsey Davis, MWSU graphic design senior, was recently honored by having her design work selected for the cover of GOOSE, an international journal of global policy analysis. Lindsey submitted two posters for the international competition and both were selected for publication, with one being selected for the cover art of the issue. Lindsey's posters are titled, "Save the Trees, Save Humanity," and convey the dire results of deforestation. In her cover poster, Lindsey depicts a tree ring slice superimposed by an image of a human fingerprint to visually suggest the connection and future between the two. Lindsey's other poster, which shows a shower of tree stumps ending with a fingerprint, also alludes to the effects of deforestation. Lindsey's work can be viewed at https://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose/

The MWSU Art History Club (est. 2017), open to all Missouri Western students, seeks to engage in visual culture beyond the classroom. Art History Club activities include meeting with curators and art historians, visiting art collections, curating exhibitions, assisting with the organization and execution of the annual Missouri Western / Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art Undergraduate Art History Symposium, helping plan art history activities for the annual Missouri Western State University Visual Arts Day, and watching art history-themed films. The Art History Club also promotes a culture of support for all students enrolled in art history courses with regular club-sponsored study sessions. For more information please contact Alexis Carr (president) at acarr6@missouriwestern.edu or faculty advisor Dr. Madeline Rislow at mrislow@missouriwestern.edu.

2020 MWSU-AKMA Symposium Schedule

2019 MWSU-AKMA Symposium Schedule

2018 MWSU-AKMA Symposium Schedule

2017 MWSU-AKMA Symposium Schedule