Exhibition Reception to be Held for Faculty Artists

The University of Findlay’s Annual Faculty Art Exhibition, now on display in Gardner Fine Arts Pavilion’s Lea Gallery, will be featuring a reception for this year’s participants at 7 pm. Friday, Jan. 23.
Those displaying works include Anne Beekman; Diane Kontar, Ph.D.; Ed Corle; Valerie Escobedo; Harry Melroy; Marie Louden-Hanes; and Spencer Cunningham.
Many of the displayed pieces, which range from porcelain to letterpress, are on sale. Prices start at $40 and top out at $500.
Anne Beekman, assistant 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 degree from Marywood University. She now donates her creative services to local non-profit organizations.
Diane Kontar, associate professor of art history, 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 artwork is inspired by art history.
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 degree 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, an associate professor of art and chair of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, teaches painting, drawing, printmaking and visual fundamentals. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Bowling Green State University and a Master of Fine Arts in painting from Miami University. Her recent exhibitions include Americas 2014: All Media at the Hartnett Hall Gallery, Minot, North Dakota; Small Works at Harper College in Palatine, Illinois; Expo 31 at the BJ Spoke Gallery in Huntington, New York; and Artful Teaching at the Riffe Gallery in Columbus, Ohio. She has also been selected for the 2010 and 2012 International Painting Annuals published by Manifest Press.
Harry Melroy, an adjunct art instructor, teaches visual fundamentals at UF. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Ohio Northern University and a Master of Fine Arts in painting from Northern Illinois University. Recent exhibitions include shows at the Mansfield Art Center, Cleveland State University, Ashland University and the Sandusky Cultural Center. He also exhibits his work regularly at the Toledo Area Artist Exhibition and the Spring Show at ArtSpace, Lima, the May Show at the Mansfield Art Center and the Fall Show at the Findlay Art League.
Marie Louden-Hanes, Ph.D., is special assistant to University President Katherine Fell, Ph.D. A painter and art historian, she joined the faculty of Findlay College in 1986. Her doctoral research at Bowling Green State University offered a fresh perspective on nineteenth-century urban women as identified in the illustrations and paintings of American artist Winslow Homer (1836-1910). In her own paintings, Louden-Hanes manipulates form and color and plays the resulting imagery against the light and dark of the natural environment. Exhibited are three works illustrating the encroaching darkness of a late winter afternoon.
Spencer Cunningham, art instructor, received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bluffton University, a Master of Arts degree in photography/film from The Ohio State University; a Master of Fine Arts degree in photography/printmaking from Bowling Green State University; and has done post-graduate visual studies at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. He has also 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. This past year 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 book.