The multidisciplinary faculty members within the Department of Art, Architecture and Design (AAD) share a common teaching philosophy centered on experiential learning and critical visual thinking that’s informed by their work outside the classroom as artists, makers, designers, historians, architects and more.
Lehigh University Art Galleries (LUAG) recently brought together a cross section of that expansive work from 14 AAD faculty members through its Art, Architecture and Design Faculty Exhibition. The exhibit is on display through May 23 and is located in the LUAG Main Gallery at 420 East Packer Avenue.
The works featured in the exhibit include typography, quilts, architectural models, paintings, hand-carved musical instruments, proposals for city planning and more. Some of the displays within the exhibit showcase aspects of the artists’ works in progress like models and proposals, while others showcase finished works and even interactive elements, said Mark Wonsidler, curator of exhibitions and collections at LUAG.
Faculty member artists featured include Anna Chupa, William Crow, Amy Forsyth, Hoʻo Hee, Wes Heiss, Wes Hiatt, Jenny Kowalski, Kevin Lahoda, Maurizio Masi, Deirdre Murphy, Nik Nikolov, Alina Tenser, Jason Travers and Christina Chi Zhang.
“At the heart of the exhibition is the way the incredible wealth of knowledge, which informs each individual faculty member's practice, spills over into and enlivens the classroom,” Wonsidler said.
Over LUAG's nearly 100-year history, exhibitions of faculty work have occurred periodically, Wonsidler said. This is LUAG’s second Art, Architecture and Design Faculty Exhibition in a regular series, following the first that opened to the public in January 2020.
“I'm excited that our campus and students have the opportunity to see all of this work firsthand,” said Wonsidler. “I know when I was an art student, seeing my mentors' work in person totally transformed and deepened my understanding of what they were teaching in the classroom, and I'm excited that our students can have that experience.”
The Art, Architecture and Design Faculty Exhibition is on display through May 23 and is located in the LUAG Main Gallery at 420 East Packer Avenue. For more information, visit https://luag.lehigh.edu/.
