Lake Superior College News Releases

Virtual Campus Recognized for Partnerships with Grandma’s Marathon and the American Birkebeiner

(Duluth, Minn.) — Lake Superior College has received a Desire2Excel award for its partnerships with Grandma’s Marathon and the American Birkebeiner, two of the Midwest region’s most popular and prestigious sporting events. The honor was announced at the national 2007 Desire2Learn (D2L) Users Conference, which was held July 9 through 11.

Desire2Excel awards recognize leading-edge efforts in online learning. They are given in three categories: Teaching and Learning; Programs; and Community Service. LSC was selected for the Community Service Award. A fourth award, the People’s Choice, was determined by a vote of the conference participants following presentations of the category winners. The LSC entry also won the People’s Choice Award.

“Our online classes, our volunteer teams, and our community involvement combined to earn this award for the college,” explained Barry Dahl, Lake Superior College’s vice president of technology and the Virtual Campus.

LSC was recognized for its development of online training programs for Grandma’s Marathon, a world-ranked road race that attracts 9,000 participants annually, and the American Birkebeiner, North America’s largest cross-country ski race. In addition to providing credit and non-credit race preparation courses, LSC sponsors the events and organizes volunteer teams to support race day activities at the events.

“We are fortunate to have great partners,” said Dahl. “Grandma’s and the Birkie have been supportive of our educational efforts and have provided great exposure for our Virtual Campus.”

In addition to recognition, the college received a $500 cash prize from the conference. The money will be added to an endowed scholarship fund for online learners managed by the Lake Superior College Foundation.

Desire2Learn is a provider of online learning environments, with corporate, K-12 school district and higher education clients, including both the University of Wisconsin System and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. The 2007 User conference was held in Duluth/Superior and was hosted by Lake Superior College and the University of Wisconsin-Superior. More than 500 educators and 50 D2L staff members attended the conference.

by Janet Blixt

Originally published in the Duluth News Tribune

Strong personal relationships are everything when it comes to international exchanges. Lake Superior College’s program with visiting Chinese art faculty and students is a thriving example of how the common language of art crosses many boundaries.

“Our collaborations with Chinese artists have evolved without formal structure. They are based on mutually supportive relationships,” says Dorian Beaulieu, LSC’s art department faculty member and ceramicist. “In the arts, ceramics is the most personable common language system with earth and clay. We have a great bond with other potters around the world. We are used to surprises and disappointments in the creative process.”

LSC’s connection to Chinese artists began six years ago when Beaulieu met Ji Ye at a conference and invited him to do painting demonstrations at LSC. Ji Ye is an accomplished watercolor and oil painter whose style joins Asian brush stroke technique with Western-style realism. He graduated from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art with his master’s degree in art education with an emphasis in watercolor. He served as an associate professor for nine years at Guangzhou University and later taught at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. His paintings have been exhibited in the National Art Gallery in China, Taiwan, and Poland and are held in many private European and American collections. He has had several exhibits in the Midwest. His work was recently exhibited in St. Paul at the Office of the Chancellor for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system and at St. Cloud State University for a symposium on China where he also presented.

Ji Ye has taught painting, watercolor and Chinese calligraphy at LSC for several years. “I enjoy teaching American students who are taking art classes as general courses and not necessarily as art majors,” explains Ji. “It is difficult in the beginning for students who have never painted or drawn before. The students relax and gain confidence as we learn fundamentals in a step-by-step approach. I want to encourage students to have a lifelong interest in art.” Ji Ye has been intrigued by the natural beauty and history of Duluth and Lake Superior since he and his family moved here. He has painted many landscapes and portraits reflecting that interest. “I am devoted to expressing the beauty I see between people and nature,” he says.

In the fall of 2002, Dorian Beaulieu attended a World Ceramics Conference in Foshan, China by invitation of Wenzhi Zhang. That was the beginning of an exchange of ideas, support, and faculty between the Lake Superior College Art Department and the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.

Zhang first came to LSC in 2003 and returned in 2004 to demonstrate ceramic sculpture as a professional artist. She is internationally known for her large-scale ceramic sculpture and is considered one of the top contemporary ceramic artists in China. She earned her master’s degree in fine arts at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. “It was a very competitive degree program,” she explains. Two thousand people applied for the master’s program; seventy-six qualified and Wenzhi was awarded the opportunity. “The government paid for everything so you could concentrate on your art. There were no teaching duties.”

It wasn’t until Zhang returned to LSC in the spring of 2005 that she first taught art. “American students are very different from Chinese students. American students have their own ideas – they come to me in class and say, ‘I would like to do a teapot or I would like to add flowers – please show me how to do this.’ Chinese students are used to all working on the same idea. Chinese students get very stressed. They do as they are told, even though things are loosening up in the classroom,” explains Zhang.

After teaching at LSC, Zhang returned to the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts to build a ceramics department modeled after LSC’s ceramics studio. “I had shelving and carts built like the ones at LSC. It made me feel at home, “says Zhang. Her American-influenced approach to teaching created a word-of-mouth reputation for her classes at Guangzhou Academy as a relaxed environment to study. “Students were crying because they couldn’t get into my class,” said Zhang. “It’s become very popular which is unusual for Chinese ceramics.”

Beaulieu was invited as a guest artist to the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art in the spring of 2006. “When Dorian came and demonstrated pottery making, it made the classes even more popular,” says Zhang. He taught raku and worked with students and craftspeople to build a raku kiln. Glazes were developed with the help of a chemistry company in time for a school-wide demonstration in the courtyard at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art where hundreds of students and faculty attended Dorian’s demonstration. “I was treated like a rock star,” jokes Beaulieu. “The Chinese take their artists very seriously.”

Zhang will participate as one of the guest artists in the upcoming International Wood Fire Conference at LSC July 16-26. Her students from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art will attend. Professor Lu Pinchang, a high-profile Chinese ceramics instructor, will also participate. Lu Pinchang is the head of the sculpture department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. He will bring his students with him to participate in the conference. The official Chinese television network will come to Duluth to document Pinchang’s journey to LSC with his students. WDSE-Channel 8, the local public television station, has been working on a documentary on the exchange between LSC and China.

LSC student Ryan Horton has taken oil painting, watercolor, drawing with Ji Ye and ceramics with Zhang. “My style in painting and ceramics has been influenced by Wenzhi and Ji Ye’s approach. I worry less about being perfect but work on pleasing myself. I would watch Wenzhi start a sculpture and not be sure of what she was doing. It seemed like a mistake to me but it was not a mistake. I am much more open-minded to new ideas as a result of watching Ji Ye paint. It seems the Chinese are much freer in their painting style.”

Zhang and Ji Ye have been teaching a free Mandarin Chinese class open to the public this spring. They are motivated by their enthusiasm for Chinese culture and a desire to expand the exchange program to include Chinese students at LSC. “We now have an agreement with Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art to bring a group of LSC students over to China in 2008, “says Beaulieu. “We hope to see Chinese students coming here on a regular basis to attend courses, too.”

(Duluth, Minn.) – LSC student Selena Mattson has been awarded a $1,000 scholarship from the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation. Mattson is originally from Proctor, Minnesota.

Through the Coca-Cola Two-Year Colleges Scholarship Program, the Foundation awards a total of 400 scholarships annually to students attending higher education institutions granting two-year degrees. All recipients have demonstrated academic success and participated in community service within the past twelve months. The Coca-Cola Two-year Scholarship Program is made possible with funding from the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation. The late Joseph B. Whitehead was one of the original bottles of Coca-Cola.

LSC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. With more than 4,500 students enrolled this past spring semester, LSC is Northeastern Minnesota’s largest two-year college. LSC provides a wide range of programs and services, including liberal arts and science courses for transfer, technical programs intended to provide occupational skills, continuing education, and customized training for business and industry. LSC is also the leader in Internet-delivered courses and programs in
Minnesota.

Media contact: Janet Blixt, (218) 723-4743, j.blixt@lsc.edu or Gary Kruchowski, (218) 733-7649, g.kruchowski@lsc.edu

For immediate release: July 10, 2007

(Duluth, Minn.) - A first-ever wood fire ceramics conference organized by Lake Superior College will feature demonstrations, lectures, exhibits, and ongoing wood fire pottery making by artists from China, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Participating artists include Brock Allen, Holly Anderson, Dorian Beaulieu, Tonya Borgeson, Dick Cooter, Dan Edmunds, Craig Edwards, Bill Gossman, Sara Haugen, Elaine Henry, Bob Husby, J.D. Jorgenson, James Klueg, Karin Kraemer, Lu Pinchang, Huang Qiang-Hua, Lenore Rukavina, Lou Xiao-Fen, Jacob Zeiher, and Wenzhi Zhang.

As part of an international exchange program at Lake Superior College, twenty artists/teachers and art students from Beijing and Guangzhou art schools will participate and teach at the conference.

Wood fire kiln pottery is an age-old tradition traced back thousands of years in Asia and the Middle East. Because of the variations in kiln temperatures and influences such as wood ash and smoke, the resulting product is highly unpredictable. Surface color and texture vary greatly in wood fire pottery. This volatility makes the process a magical one.

Presenter highlights include Wenzhi Zhang, considered one of the most important contemporary Chinese ceramic artists working today. Zhang has exhibited her work from Paris to New York. Zhang studied at the Guangzhou Fine Art Academy where she now teaches in the ceramics program she started. Her work is held in public institutions, galleries and private collections across the globe, including Lake Superior College, Guangzhou Art College, and the Ministry of the Culture of China. She is currently working on a commissioned sculpture for the new LSC Academic and Student Services building to open this fall.
Professor Lu Pinchang, a high profile Chinese ceramics instructor, will also demonstrate and discuss his work. Lu Pinchang is the head of the sculpture department of the highly respected Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. His work has been exhibited throughout China, Hong Kong, and in the United States. He is the subject of a documentary film, “Lu Pinchang and the Course of Contemporary Ceramic Arts in China.” He has guest lectured at many American universities and participated in numerous artist exchanges throughout the world.
Free public events include:

Tuesday, July 17

5-6:30 p.m. Conference opening artists’ exhibit and reception. Lake Superior College Art Building, 2nd floor.

7-9 p.m. Professor Lu Pinchang, Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts, slide lecture. Tweed Museum, University of Minnesota, Duluth.

Friday, July 20

6-8 p.m. “Midwest Mud Mania III” wood fire pottery and sculpture exhibit and reception, Washington Studio, Duluth. Includes regional artists Stephanie Adams, Phil Ahnen, Tonya Borgeson, Ryan Casey, Mary Coffey, Jim Edelen, Kate Fisher, Ron Gallas, Brandon Lutterman, Chris Rodi and Jacob Zeiher

Sat. July 21

5-7 p.m. Artist Jacob Zeiher, wood fire pottery and sculpture exhibit at the Snoodle Ceramic Studio & Gallery, 7107 Grand Ave., Duluth.

Tuesday, July 24 LSC Community Day

9 a.m.-5 p.m. Open studio community visitation day at Lake Superior College. The public is welcome to visit with potters and watch studio activities, including pit firings and experimental kilns. During the day, a giant pottery piece will be built by all workshop participants to commemorate the wood fire conference. Demonstrations of guest artists producing work at designated locations include potter Bill Gossman from 9 a.m. to noon in the LSC studio, and potter J. D. Jorgenson from 2 to 5 p.m. in the LSC studio.

Wednesday, July 25

7-9 p.m. “Trial by Fire,” new works by Dan Edmunds. Opening exhibit and reception at Red Mug/Duluth Pottery/North End Arts Council, 916 Hammond Avenue, Superior, Wisconsin.

For more information on the conference, including registration, check out www.lsc.edu