Eight UF Faculty Members Exhibiting, Selling Original Artwork

The University of Findlay’s spring 2018 Faculty Art Exhibition is taking place through Feb. 2 in the Virginia B. Gardner Fine Arts Pavilion’s Lea Gallery.
A public reception will be held at the gallery on Tuesday, Jan. 23 from 7-8:30 p.m.
Represented faculty members include Anne Beekman, Ed Corle, Valerie Escobedo, Anita McCandless, Laura B. Corle, Diane Kontar, Spencer Cunningham and Marie Louden-Hanes.
Anne Beekman, associate professor of graphic design, worked for 20 years as an art director, graphic designer and web developer in publishing and advertising, winning multiple awards for her work. Her client accounts have included ADT, Calvin Klein, Johnson & Johnson, Oscar de la Rentá, U.S. Army and Verizon Wireless. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The Cleveland Institute of Art, and a Master of Fine Arts in graphic design and illustration from Marywood University. She now donates her creative services to local nonprofit organizations.
Ed Corle, associate professor of art, teaches ceramics, sculpture and three-dimensional design. He has taught at UF since 1986. He attended Ohio Northern University where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1974. He also attended Rochester Institute of Technology School for the American Craftsman and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1982. Corle enjoys making functional hand-thrown pots. He has participated in many regional exhibitions and arts fairs and festivals such as the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair and the Black Swamp Arts Festival. He is a member of the Findlay Art League and The Michigan Guild.
Valerie Escobedo received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Bowling Green State University and a Master of Fine Arts from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. AT the University of Findlay, she teaches painting, drawing, printmaking and visual fundamentals. Recent exhibitions include Milestones: A Celebration of BGSU School of Art and Alumni at the Dorothy Uber Bryan Gallery in Bowling Green, Ohio; and the Department of art Faculty and Alumni Exhibition at the Miami University Art Museum. She was also selected for the 2010 and 2012 International Painting Annuals, and the 2016 International Drawing Annual published by Manifest Press.
Anita McCandless has taught design at the University of Findlay since 1990. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Findlay College and a Master of Fine Arts from Bowling Green State University. McCandless’ artwork is simply a very tactile response to observations and influences in her life.
Laura Barnhardt Corle was one of Ohio Northern University’s first fine arts graduates in 1977. She proceeded to earn a Master of Fine Arts at Bowling Green State University in 2015. She has served as an adjunct art instructor at ONU and at the University of Findlay, teaching watercolors. Corle is a freelance artist and teacher in the Jones Building in downtown Findlay, and a Findlay Art League member. She specializes in painting, specifically photorealistic watercolors, and exhibits her work at local, regional and national art shows and fairs, including the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair.
Diane Kontar, Ph.D., has taught art history and art appreciation at UF since 2004. A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, she earned degrees in art history, classical archeology and art education, completing her Ph.D. at Florida State University in 2000. Her conceptual artwork is inspired by ideas about art history.
Spencer Cunningham, art instructor, received a Bachelor of Arts from Bluffton University, a Master of Arts in photography/film from The Ohio State University; a Master of Fine Arts from Bowling Green State University; and has done post-graduate visual studies at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. He also has freelanced in public relations photography, film and video production. Clients have included a wide range of businesses, organizations, design agencies and production companies. Cunningham has shown his photographs in many juried and solo fine art exhibitions. In 2015 he had work exhibited and published in the “International Photography Annual” with Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, and was a finalist in “Photographer’s Forum” magazine’s Best of 2014, 2016 and 2017 international publications. Recent exhibitions include Milestones: A Celebration of BGSU School of Art Alumni, and Art Space Lima’s annual Juried Photography Exhibition.
Marie Louden-Hanes, Ph.D., is a professor of art history. A visual artist and historian, she continues to research the public and private lives of 19^th century urban women as revealed in illustrations and paintings by Winslow Homer, 19^th century American artist. In her own paintings, Louden-Hanes manipulates form and color and plays the resulting imagery against the light of the natural environment. She joined the visual arts faculty of Findlay College in 1986. She added administrative responsibilities in 1998 as graduate program director and provided other administrative leadership including various deanships for another 12 years. Louden-Hanes returned to the classroom in 2014.
Some of the artists’ works is for sale. To purchase art, contact Spencer Cunningham at cunninghams@findlay.edu or at 419-434-7460.
Lea Gallery hours are from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. All of its exhibitions are free and open to the public.