• A Man Worthy of Your Attention -  Original Illustrations by Dana Ellyn

The McCutchan Art Center/Pace Galleries has joined with USI’s RopeWalk Press to display the original mixed media artworks that illustrate the Press’s 2012 publication. Nicole Reid, USI associate professor of English, chose this year’s selection. “A Man Worthy of Your Attention is a fully illustrated short story published in perfect bound chapbook form by Ropewalk Press,” Reid said. “Janet Freeman's tale of a girl standing somewhere between victim and puppeteer, and the cop sent to help her, is masterfully illustrated by painter Dana Ellyn, whose art brings additional layers of nuance and strange beauty to these vibrant characters and their off-kilter world.”

The artist and the author will present a joint reading and artist talk at 5 p.m. on Thursday, August 30 in Kleymeyer Hall in the Liberal Arts Center at USI. There will be a book signing and reception in the McCutchan Art Center/Pace Galleries following the presentation.  The public is welcome to attend this free event.

Ellyn has been a full-time artist for over a decade, living and painting in her studio in a subsidized artist housing unit in downtown Washington DC. Her artworks have been shown throughout the U.S. and internationally. She committed herself to full-time artist status in 2002 when she decided to leave her corporate job and pursue painting.

Freeman’s fiction has appeared in PANK, Word Riot, Chicago Quarterly Review, Monkeybicycle, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of several awards for her work, including a Million Writers Award. A native of North Carolina, she currently resides in Northern Colorado.

• Anima Chronic – the Sculptures of Alan Wadzinski

The McCutchan Art Center/ Pace Galleries has partnered with the USI’s Department of Art to present the amazing art of Minneapolis sculptor Alan Wadzinski, the Department of Art’s Fall 2012 Visiting Artist. Wadzinski creates life-size and larger-than-life-size fantastical animals, birds and insects from common and often discarded materials, repurposing them into artworks that are visually intriguing and conceptually complex. These richly surfaced and lushly beautiful figures convey the majesty, dignity, and pathos of these co-habitants of our planet and their place in our human world and hierarchy.

Wadzinski will conduct an all-day student workshop from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, October 18 in the Technology Center, room 109. He also will present a talk on his sculptures at 6 p.m. in Kleymeyer Hall in the Liberal Arts Center that evening, with a reception to follow in the McCutchan Art Center/Pace Galleries.  The public is welcome to attend the free evening event.