Contemporary wildlife painter and School of Art, Art History and Design alumnus Matt Belk will present the next Hixson-Lied Visiting Artist and Scholar Lecture at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 16 in Richards Hall, Room 15. The lecture is free and open to the public.
The School of Art, Art History and Design’s Hixson-Lied Visiting Artist and Scholar Lecture Series brings notable artists, scholars and designers to Nebraska each semester to enhance the education of students.
Belk has increasingly become known as a contemporary wildlife painter, bridging the gap between the outdoor country lifestyle and modern contemporary art. His work uses tape and the cutting of shapes with an X-Acto blade and airbrushing with inventive new techniques to create a seemingly digital graphic depiction of nature. Originally from Omaha, he received his B.F.A. from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Last year he had his first solo show in New York City. He recently completed a months-long residency in Sweden at the Carl Kostayal Gallery in Blidö.
The remaining lectures in the series are:
• 5:30 p.m., Nov. 12: Holly Willis (co-sponsored by the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts and The Awareness Lab) — Willis is chair of the Media Arts+Practice Division in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, where she studies reconfigurations of cinema and experimental media. She also co-directs the AI for Media & Storytelling initiative of the USC Center for Generative AI and Society.
• 5 p.m., Nov. 13: Steve Anderson (co-sponsored by the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts, The Awareness Lab and the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center) — The lecture will be at the Ross, followed by a sneak preview of Anderson’s new film, “Reality Friction.” Anderson is a scholar-practitioner working at the intersection of media, history, technology and culture. He is professor of digital media at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and associate dean for academic affairs in the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture and is the author of “Technologies of History.”
Underwritten by the Hixson-Lied Endowment with additional support from other sources, the series enriches the culture of the state by providing a way for Nebraskans to interact with luminaries in the fields of art, art history and design.
Each visiting artist or scholar spends one to three days on campus to meet with classes, participate in critiques and give demonstrations. For more information on the series, contact the School of Art, Art History and Design at 402-472-5522 or e-mail schoolaahd@unl.edu.
