Lake Superior College News Releases

(Duluth, Minn.) — Lake Superior College’s (LSC) fourteenth annual Spring Semester Art Exhibit will open on Monday, May 5 with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Free and open to the public, the reception will include refreshments, and an opportunity to meet the artists.

Students enrolled in LSC’s popular art courses will have an opportunity to display their work during the event. For many of the approximately 350 participating students, it will be their first-ever exhibition.

Student artists will present a wide variety of projects, including paintings, watercolors, sculpture, jewelry, digital photography, drawings, two and three-dimensional design projects, and ceramics.

Artwork will be displayed in the upper and lower levels of the concourse in LSC’s main building. The public may view the exhibition during regular campus hours, beginning at noon on Monday, May 5, and continuing through Wednesday, May 7.

For more information, contact faculty member Tonya Borgeson, (218) 279-2669 or t.borgeson@lsc.edu

Lighthouse photo by LSC student Kari Peterson created in Victoria Hutson’s digital photography class.

With more than 4,800 students enrolled this 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 a leader in Internet-delivered courses and programs in Minnesota.

(Duluth, Minn.) — LSC students have worked with Art Junction artists from Udac throughout this fall semester to create a collage and ceramics exhibit to open Wed, Dec. 5 from 4- 6 p.m. with a reception in LSC’s Fine Arts Building. The exhibit will run through December 31.

“We’re thrilled to showcase the Udac artists’ work at Lake Superior College,” said faculty instructor Tonya Borgeson. “Our students enjoyed working with the Udac artists. It was a mutual learning experience.”

For the third year, Lake Superior College art staff and students developed a creative partnership with the Udac Art Junction staff and artists based on a service learning philosophy, which allowed LSC students to participate in and positively contribute to the community while learning and applying specific classroom curriculum.

The Udac Art Junction program offers innovative ways for people with disabilities to express their artistic abilities through drawing, painting, sculpting and photography. Udac is a non-profit organization funded by St. Louis County, other public sources and private contributions. Udac’s mission is to provide customized services to people with disabilities and other challenges based on their choices.

LSC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. With more than 4,300 students enrolled this fall 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.

Photo caption: A group collage titled “Love Will Let You In” is among the works to be displayed.

(Duluth, Minn.) — Lake Superior College’s (LSC) annual Fall Semester Art Exhibit will open on Monday, Dec. 10. Students enrolled in LSC’s popular art courses will have an opportunity to display their work during the event. The exhibit formally opens with a reception between 5 and 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 10. Free and open to the public,
the reception will include refreshments, and an opportunity to meet the artists.

For many of the approximately 350 participating students, it will be their first-ever exhibition. They will present a wide variety of projects, including paintings, watercolors, sculpture, jewelry, digital photography, drawing, two and three-dimensional design projects, and ceramics.

Artwork will be displayed in the upper and lower levels of the concourse in the main building. The public may view the exhibition during regular campus hours, beginning at noon on Monday, Dec. 10 and continuing through Wed., Dec. 12.

For more information, contact faculty member Dorian Beaulieu, (218) 725-7715 or d.beaulieu@lsc.edu.

LSC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. With more than 4,300 students enrolled this fall 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.

Photo caption: Digital photo by LSC Student Michelle Johnson.

(Duluth, Minn.) – Pottery wheels will spin thirty hours straight for a good cause at Lake Superior College. The annual Throw-a-thon will start at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 30 through Sat., Dec. 1, 3 p.m. in the college’s Fine Arts building to make bowls for the “Empty Bowl” fundraiser.

Organizers plan to make hundreds of bowls to be donated to the “Empty Bowl.” Area potters and anyone willing to throw a bowl, bring pizzas, or sweep up and/or do heavy lifting are welcome. If you are interested, contact LSC faculty member Tonya Borgeson, (218) 310-8903 or t.borgeson@lsc.edu

A Glaze-a-thon will be held on Friday, January 25 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to finish the bowls. The completed bowls will be available at the “Sea of Bowls” preview on Monday, March 31, 2008, from 5 to 7 p.m. and the “Empty Bowl” main event on Tuesday, April 1, 2008 from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Depot, 506 W. Michigan Street, Duluth. The bowls will be sold along with a variety of delicious soups that have been donated by area restaurants on that day.

The proceeds from “Empty Bowl” support the Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank, which assists in feeding nearly 42,000 hungry families throughout Northeastern Minnesota and Northwestern Wisconsin. This year, Throw-a-thon participants hope to make 300-500 bowls, raising well in excess of $7,500.

LSC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. With more than 4,300 students enrolled this fall 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.

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.”

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

Lake Superior College’s (LSC) thirteenth annual Spring Semester Art Exhibit will open on Wed., May 2. Students enrolled in LSC’s popular art courses will have an opportunity to display their work during the event. For many of the approximately 350 participating students, it will be their first-ever exhibition.

Student artists will present a wide variety of projects, including paintings, watercolors, sculpture, jewelry, digital photography, drawing, two and three-dimensional design projects, and ceramics. The exhibit formally opens with a reception between 5 and 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 2. Free and open to the public, the reception will include refreshments and an opportunity to meet the artists.

Artwork will be displayed in the upper and lower levels of the concourse in the main building. The public may view the exhibition during regular campus hours, beginning at noon on Wednesday, May 2, and continuing through Tuesday, May 8. For more information, contact faculty member Dorian Beaulieu, (218) 725-7715 or d.beaulieu@lsc.edu

With more than 4,800 students enrolled this 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.

Photo caption: “Feet” by student Bobbikay DeLovely from our digital photography class.

(Duluth, Minn.) – Lake Superior College requests qualifications from professional artists to create public artwork for the new Academic and Student Services addition on its main campus in Duluth, Minnesota. The project is open to all artists or artist teams, working in any media.

The college seeks timely, highly visual, original artwork to reflect the educational mission and/or community connections of Lake Superior College that can become a signature piece for a college with a large and thriving arts program.

The artwork will be sited in a prominent location or locations inside the new building. The deadline for applications is March 5, 2007. The commission will be awarded in May 2007.For complete details, please see the request for qualifications at www.lsc.edu/publicart.

LSC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. With more than 4,800 students enrolled this 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.