FASA brings artist to IU

The Fine Arts Student Association welcomes visiting artist John Jacobsmeyer to campus this weekend. Jacobsmeyer is the second artist in a three part series in which professional artists come to IU to educate and encourage aspiring artists. \nFASA is an organization open to studio-art students that works to create opportunities beyond the classroom.\nThe visiting artist series provides students an opportunity to meet one on one with an artist who has experience in the field. Senior Ann Thompson, a member of FASA, said the visiting artists series hopes to provide students an opportunity to meet artists from a variety of fields one on one.\nDuring his three day stay, Jacobsmeyer will hold lectures and demos presenting some of his work and a few of the processes he uses to create these works. These lectures and demos are open to students, faculty, staff and the public at no cost.\nJacobsmeyer's first lecture will present his series of paintings and prints titled "Frontier Fever." "'Frontier Fever' is inspired by a desire among humans to go back to nature in different ways," Jacobsmeyer said. \nThe second lecture will cover the history of the woodcut novel. A woodcut novel is a body of work composed in the 1920s and 30s in Germany and the United States. \n"The woodcut novels are books without words, but they are not flip books," Jacobsmeyer said. \nJacobsmeyer is also currently working on his own woodcut novel. \n"I started about a year-and-a-half ago, and I am one-third to one-half of the way through. It's a long process," he said.\nThe woodcut novels are printed through a process known as woodcut or wood graving. Jacobsmeyer will display some of his own woodcut work during the woodcut demo following the lecture.\nJacobsmeyer received his Master's of Fine Arts from Yale and has taught art at various shows and universities for more than 14 years. He has won multiple awards for his work and is currently teaching painting, drawing and printing at the New York Academy of Art.\nNot only is FASA creating connections between students and professional artists, but also connections between students and the IU art community. \n"I have made contacts with IU faculty and museum personell that I would not have otherwise come into contact with as a student," said senior Mary Graham, FASA president.\nFASA works to provide opportunities for students who have a passion for art. \n"FASA is a good opportunity to get involved in something I enjoy and network through the art department," sophomore and FASA secretary Lara Stevens said.\nThe opportunities created through this visiting artists series were sponsored through a grant proposed by FASA and generous groups and individuals within the IU community. Sponsors include Commitment to Assist Student Initiatives, IU's painting department, IU's Fundamentals department, IU's printmaking department, the Visiting Artists Committee, Burke Lecture Series, Tim Kennedy and Eve Mansdorf, SoFA Gallery, Martha MacLeish, Christyl Boger and B.J. Irvine.\nFor more information on John Jacobsmeyer, visit his Web site at www.johnjacobsmeyer.com.\n-- Contact staff writer Laura White at laawhite@indiana.edu.