UArts in Beijing
University of the Arts has been selected to curate one of the six special exhibitions being presented as part of the prestigious 8th Beijing International Art Biennale, Aug. 30–Sept. 23, 2019, at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing. The special exhibitions each highlight work from a select country. The UArts special exhibition will be the first time the United States is represented in this way at the BIAB.
UArts President and CEO David Yager and Vice President Rick Longo are serving as curators for the special exhibition, which is the sole representative of the United States at the major international art event.
The Special Exhibition will showcase UArts’ 142-year legacy of arts leadership, and spotlight the university’s mission of advancing human creativity. Twenty-two artworks by 11 teaching artists and alumni of the University will be presented. The artworks on display will speak to the unique culture of creativity that the University instills in its students.
Meet the Artist
Mark Campbell, born in 1952, is an associate professor within the Fine Arts department. He has held numerous administrative positions at UArts, most recently as Dean of the College of Art, Media and Design. Exhibitions include Suburban Escape: The Art of California Sprawl, at the San Jose Museum of Art and Situated Realities, a national traveling exhibition focusing on new media. Additional venues include the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Delaware Art Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, the Fabric Workshop And Museum, DUMBO Art Center and the Maryland Institute College of Art.
Mark Campbell’s works reference urban and landscape theory, with contents and forms derived from the built environment and the interface of constructed and natural systems. The works in this exhibition could be considered a satirical critique of land use practices in the suburban mega-zones surrounding US cities, including the rigid, uniform templates used in the design of most US suburban subdivisions. It could also be understood as simultaneously advocating for urbanized high density living, referencing Italian hill-towns or Chinese hutongs. The latent abstraction of the work invites the viewer to respond first to their pure physical/optical characteristics.
Shawn Faust earned his MFA in studio arts from University of the Arts. He has exhibited in national galleries and museums, such as at the Wildlife Experience Museum in Colorado, the Delaware Art Museum and the Biggs Museum of American Art in Delaware, Sage Creek Gallery in New Mexico, and the Spa Fine Art Gallery in New York.
Laura Frazure ('86) is an assistant professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She has led an International Anatomy Intensive at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and has also taught anatomy at Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts. She has exhibited in the U.S., Beijing, Shanghai and Eastern Europe.
Beverly Fishman ('77) earned her bachelor of fine arts degree from Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts) and her MFA from Yale University. She has won many awards, including the Hassam, Speicher, Betts and Symons Purchase Award; an American Academy of Arts and Letters award; a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship; and an NEA Fellowship grant.
Michael Grothusen is an associate professor of sculpture at University of the Arts. He is a mixed-media sculptor and installation artist who has exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Philadelphia International Airport and the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts. He has also completed two permanent public commissions for the City of Philadelphia.
Alan Price is director of the Center for Immersive Media at University of the Arts. He creates networked virtual environments and real-time animation for interactive art, games and performance, and is a recipient of an international MUSE award for technology in museum exhibits and a Prix Ars Electronica award in interactive art.
Rebecca Sack is director of the Fine Arts program and painting emphasis coordinator at University of the Arts. Her work has been exhibited internationally in Denmark and Italy, and in New York.
