Artist , the new chair of the ²¤ÂÜÊÓƵ University studio arts department, will meet and greet members of the ²¤ÂÜÊÓƵ and Nashville community at a reception on Sept. 5.
The More Art, Less Filler: The Faculty Selects exhibit opens at the on the ²¤ÂÜÊÓƵ campus on Aug. 29 and runs until Oct. 12. The exhibit features art from the personal collections of members of the ²¤ÂÜÊÓƵ studio arts faculty along with selected works on loan from local artists.
Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The reception is 5 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 5. All are invited and there is no charge.
Once he settles in from a move from the , Ziegler hopes to help make community art more visible on the ²¤ÂÜÊÓƵ campus, and eventually the city.
“People don’t go to cities because they have great sewer systems,” he said. “They go to cities because there is great culture. That’s what attracts people. That’s what attracts corporations. All this makes being an artist more exciting than ever before. In my life and my career, it hasn’t always been that way. There is a shift here. Many cities, outside of the major art centers, are finally recognizing the significance of the arts to economics and the visual arts are very much a part of that equation.”
Ziegler chaired the Austin Arts Commission for three years, succeeding in convincing the city council to raise the amount of city construction project funds that go to public art from 1 percent to 2 percent.
Ziegler’s body of work in collaboration with late artist Kate Ericson is currently the subject of a major exhibit at the through October and then moves to the in Cincinnati from Nov. 10 to Jan. 13, 2008. Ziegler collaborated with Ericson until her death in 1995.
“I collaborated for 18 years with Kate Ericson, and our whole thing was finding ways in which our art could infiltrate what we called ‘socially active space,'” Ziegler said. “I’m interested in community. I’m interested in the idea of how art can relate to everything we do.”
Ziegler and Ericson made an important mark with public art across the country, as the exhibit and book published by document. They did major projects with the Seattle transit system and Charleston, S.C.’s historical district. For his piece Front Lawn in 1981, Ziegler collaborated with a Los Angeles home owner to install an elevated lawn (on rafters) for a period of time.
Ziegler’s plans for ²¤ÂÜÊÓƵ include the launching of a visiting artist series, which will bring working artists to campus to meet with students and give presentations for the general public.
“I didn’t want to go any place where it would be the status quo,” Ziegler said. “I wanted to go where there’s major movement and changes. There’s a lot of room to grow here, a lot of possibilities.”
Media Contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu