Last modified: Thursday, October 9, 2008
IU Home Pages presents special “arts and humanities” issue
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 9, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Office of University Communications at Indiana University will publish a special "arts and humanities" issue of IU Home Pages, the faculty and staff newspaper for all eight IU campuses, on Monday (Oct. 13). While it would be impossible to represent all of the arts and humanities from even one of IU's campuses in a single newspaper, said Home Pages editor Jayne Spencer, the issue represents a sampling of some of the highlights.
Among other features, the 32-page, full color tabloid-style issue includes a letter from IU President Michael McRobbie, comments from deans, chancellors and faculty from throughout IU's eight campuses, profiles of interesting professors and a historic timeline that lists some of the arts-related highlights of IU's rich cultural life.
Several pages are devoted to images of selected masterpieces in the IU Art Museum's extensive collection. Heidi Gealt, director of the IU Art Museum in Bloomington, provides commentary to accompany photos of some of her favorite paintings.
Of Virgin Adoring Christ Child with Infant St. John and Three Angels, (artist unknown), Gealt said: "Despite the fact that we don't know the artist -- a common phenomenon for art from this period -- this piece is simply beautiful! This is the perfect blend of ideal physical beauty at the service of religion. It also has historical interest, since it reflects a new kind of devotion promoted by a Florentine prior, Antonino Pierozzi (1389-1459) who was promoted to archbishop and later canonized as Saint Antonine."
One article describes the 77 language programs offered at IU, while another pays homage to IU Opera Theater's 60th anniversary season. We are introduced to Brian Jones, president of the American Print Alliance and a professor of fine arts at IU Southeast; William Buckley, founding editor of the new online journal Plath Profiles and a professor at IU Northwest; and award-winning author and Distinguished Professor of English Susan Gubar from IU Bloomington.
Additional material in the form of videos appears on the online version of the newspaper, which will be available on Monday at https://www.homepages.indiana.edu/2008/10-13. Among the videos are a tour of the IU Art Museum and an overview of the arts and design program at Herron. Also, video interviews with several faculty, including Shehira Davezac, associate professor in the Department of History of Art at IU Bloomington; Jeff Rothenberg, associate professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at the IU School of Medicine in Indianapolis; Cory Robinson, assistant professor of furniture design in the Herron School of Art and Design at IUPUI; and Karla Stouse, senior lecturer in English at IU Kokomo.
IU officials hope the special issue captures statewide attention.
"IU gets a lot of media attention for what it is doing in science and research, but it also has an exceptionally accomplished faculty in the arts and humanities as well," said Larry MacIntyre, IU assistant vice president for university communications. "We hope this special issue will put a spotlight on the breadth and vibrancy of all that we do here at IU to give our students an understanding and appreciation for the arts. This is truly the heart of our great university."
