Tag Archives: Art

New Art in the Java City Café

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Above: “About to Explode”

University Libraries has recently acquired seven paintings by Phoenix Latino artist Julio Cesar Rodarte. These are on display in the café’s lower level. New furnishings have also been acquired with support from the SGA.

The oldest of four children, Rodarte was born in Fresnillo, Zacatecas in 1984. Three years later the family immigrated to the United States. He took his first art classes in high school in Arizona after his psychologist and school counselor encouraged him to take a drawing class after a failed suicide attempt.

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Above: Julio Cesar Rodarte in front of his painting, “Constructed Chaos”

At the age of 19 he enrolled at Glendale Community College where he discovered his talent for painting. Since then he’s developed his unique style in which he first develops a sculptural form and then paints on the shapes with colorful repetitive patterns, geometric shapes, forms, silhouettes, and numbers. In 2008 he began showing his art in group shows in Phoenix and had his first solo exhibition “Over and Over” at Arizona State University’s Downtown Campus in Phoenix in 2009.  Since then the 26 year old painter has continued to have solo and group shows such as “Shapes”, a March 2010 solo exhibition and “Arte Latino en la Ciudad”, a May 2010 group show at the Phoenix Center for the Arts.

His art has been collected by corporations and private collectors. He says he continues “to paint with determination” in his studio in Phoenix.

Brian Coutts

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Above, left to right: “Is This Real, What Do You Feel?,” “Sound Waves,” “Constructed Chaos”

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Above, left to right: “Sound Waves,” “The Superhero of Color,” “Is This Real, What Do You Feel?”

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Above: “About to Explode,” “Upside Down”

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WKU Libraries on the Cover of C&RL News

College & Research Llibraries News cover

granville1We’re pleased to announce that a painting by Granville Mitchell from the Kentucky African American Art Collection in the Raymond Cravens Library is featured on the front cover of the nation’s leading college and university libraries trade journal. With more than 12,000 personal and institutional subscribers and an international readership many times that number, College & Research Libraries News showcases the work of the Association of College and Research Libraries and its member institutions. Mitchell, who studied commercial art at WKU, works on paper with pen and ink, acrylic, oil, and some airbrush. In his works he seeks to capture movement, the dynamic of life.

“Main Street” is one of two Granville Mitchell paintings in our collection.

Mitchell’s art was showcased in Kentucky Live! Southern Culture At Its Best, an annual series of public talks sponsored by the WKU Libraries, now in its eighth season. He also depicted the Historic Freedom Riders in a collaborative mural honoring the life of Martin Luther King Jr. at the Kentucky Library and Museum.

This marks the third time WKU Libraries has been featured on the front cover of C&RL News.

Click here for a large version of Granville Mitchell’s Main Street.

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Zephyrus

In Greek mythology, the Anemoi were the wind gods. Zephyrus was the west wind and bringer of light spring and early summer breezes.

1969 Cover

1969 Cover

At WKU, Zephyrus is the fine arts magazine published annually by the English department. It features art, poetry and short stories created and written by students. University Archives holds the full run of this magazine which first appeared in 1969. We are in the process of digitizing every issue for publication on TopScholar.  Originals are available for researchers in University Archives UA68/6/1.

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