Visiting Artist Events
Ross Mazzupappa
Monday, October 6, 2025
Mazzupappa will give an artist talk and demonstration on Ocotber 6th from 2:30- 5:30pm in Willard Hall, room 319. He will present some techniques for photo-lithography.
Ross Mazzupappa is the Associate Teaching Professor of Printmaking and Photography at Bowling Green State University, in Bowling Green Ohio. He serves as the head of Printmaking and Director of BGSU’s study abroad program in Japan.
Ross is from Youngstown Ohio and received his BFA from Youngstown State University. He went on to earn his MA and MFA from the University of Iowa. His artistic research centers on the Rust Belt region of the United States where it intersects with machine culture, biologic phenomena, and environmental concerns. Ross chooses to make his work primarily in printmaking, and photo-mechanical processes. Drawing on the history of labor, produce, and repetition in his practice. He has exhibited his work nationally and internationally. His work is also in numerous public and private collections, including Stanford University.
Ross is also a researcher, inventor, and DIY enthusiast within the fields of printmaking and photography. He has developed two photo-print processes in which a Copyright has been granted for one and a Pending Patent for the most recent. Ross cultivates a culture of DIY solutions to make printmaking more accessible to artists, students, and print communities. He is well known for his DIY printmaking brayer and rollers. In which he has given many workshops around the US. His DIY projects also include homemade lithographic crayons, presses, equipment and tools. Ross likes to give back to the print community by sharing his creations and artwork online and hopes to write a book documenting his DIY projects.
To follow Ross’s work and updates on upcoming workshops, you can find him on Instagram, and rossmazzupappa.weebly.com
Ancestors That We Are
September 30- October 17, 2025
The KSU Department of Art will host an exhibition by Mee Jey in the Chapman Gallery of Willard Hall.
With research degrees in History and Field Archaeology at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Mee Jey received MFA degree from Washington University in St. Louis, USA. With solo shows and performances at Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Kranzberg Arts Foundation, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, Bruno David Gallery (St. Louis), Middlesex University ( London, UK), India Habitat Center (New Delhi), her works have been shown in group shows in Athens (Greece, Europe), New York (MA), London (UK), Michigan, Miami (FL), St. Louis (MO), Alton (IL), New Delhi (India). She was Artist-in-Residence at the Laumeier Sculpture Park (MO, 2022), Procreate Project (London, 2023), Craft Alliance (2022-23) and Kranzberg Arts Foundation (24-25). As Creative Lab Fellow at Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2023-24) Mee was commissioned a permanent installation at the Veteran Housing Project at 1515 N. Grand, St, Louis. She was awarded St. Louis Visionary Emerging Artist Award (2022) and Mother Art Prize in London (UK, 2023).
Buy Our Selves
February 17- March 7, 2025
The KSU Art Department is excited to announce the opening of the "Buy Our Selves" ceramics show, featuring the work of our Artist in Residence, Spencer Cheek.
Location: Chapman Gallery
Closing reception: 6-8pm on the March 7th
This thought-provoking exhibit explores themes of identity, consumerism, and the human form through Spencer Cheek’s unique ceramic works. It offers an opportunity to engage with powerful reflections on contemporary culture.
Join us in celebrating the creativity and vision of the KSU ceramics community!
We look forward to seeing you there!
Spaces Between
October 28- November 22, 2024
Spaces Between is a conversation of process; building in new directions with clay that dialog surface design, technical processes, and materiality to build structures. Both ceramic artists, Andrea Moon and Dryden Wells create artworks that ask the viewer to look between the lines and through the negative space to understand form and reflect content.
Dryden Wells is a ceramicist and sculptor based in St. Louis, whose work is inspired by the process of creation. With years of experience as an instructor, fabricator, and technician of metals, ceramics, and wood, Wells’ sense of curiosity and discovery guides his artistic practice. Drawing inspiration from “the act of construction, deconstruction and reconstruction,” Wells creates work with polish, playfulness, and a commitment to craft. (Work pictured above)
Andrea Moon constructs complex ceramic structures through the repetition of simple forms. By stacking stoneware ribbons or building coils into basket-like structures, Moon produces networks with each piece relying on its neighbor to build a larger whole. Outside of the studio, Moon has prioritized the construction of a strong arts community, directing residency and education programs at the Red Lodge Clay Center, The Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen, China, and Craft Alliance in St. Louis. She currently is a lecturer of ceramics at Washington University, St. Louis.
(Work pictured to the left)
Printmaking, Preservation, and Renewl: MAPC 2024 Conference
October 2- 6, 2024
MAPC 2024 From The Ashes: Printmaking, Preservation, and Renewal will explore the relationship between printmakers and the natural environment. This conference will showcase those who draw upon this connection to challenge convention, preserve aspects of tradition, and define printmaking for the future: the artists, innovators, scientists, experimenters, curators, critics, educators, students, and professionals who are driven to make a difference.
Multiple exhibitions will be open to the public in Willlard Hall, which inclued:
2024 MAPC Members Juried Exhibition
Juror: Norman Akers, Associate Professor of Art, University of Kansas
Mark A. Chapman Gallery, Willard Hall 1st Floor
Planting a Garden with Prometheus
Anthony Mead
Ikeda Gallery, Willard Hall Basement
Kansas Caprichos
A selection of Intro to Printmaking interpretations of Francisco Goya's Caprichos (2008- 2024)
Black Line Printmaking Gallery, Willard Hall 3rd Floor Hallway
Electric Impressions
A selection of prints by student, faculty, and artist researchers from the National Endowment for the Arts Electrolytic Etching research project
Graduate Project Space, Willard Hall 1st Floor
For more information visit: fromtheashes.k-state.edu
Party Mix Exhibition by Visiting Artist Cori Crumrine
May 20-24, 2024
Kansas State University Department of Art presents "Party Mix" an exhibition by Cori Crumrine. The exhibition will run from May 20-24, 2024 in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery, first floor of Willard Hall. Gallery hours are 8am – 5pm, Monday through Friday. Admission is free and open to the public.
Statement from the Artist, "Utilizing a medley of saccharine palettes and confectionary forms, I create small-scale sculptures exploring the intrinsic details of ambiguity. The work is presented as a simple, single-serving “eat me” temptation. Each piece emanates an individual curiosity; a need to determine whether the work is fresh or stale, artificial or organic, sweet or savory. The forms reference familiar shapes yet are ambiguous enough not to conjure an immediate label. Their bite-sized scale invites you to ponder their potential ingredients and intentions."
Cori Crumrine studied ceramics at Bowling Green State University (BFA 2013) and the University of Montana (MFA 2018), where she recognized her desire to pursue teaching. Cori has continued her creative studies through assistantships and residencies at the Penland School of Craft, Das Keramikkünstlerhaus Neumünster, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, the New Harmony Clay Project, and Queen City Clay. She is currently a visiting instructor and artist-in-residence in the ceramics program at Kansas State University.
Website: https://www.coricrumrine.com
Funded in part by KSU SGA Fine Arts Fee
Lecture and Demonstration presented by Ceramic Artist, Allison Almloff
April 3rd and 4th, 2024
Lecture will take place Wednesday, April 3rd from 4-5pm in room 028 Willard Hall.
Lecture & hands on demonstration will take place Thursday, April 4th from 8:30-11am in room 028 Willard Hall.
Statement from the artist- "I create functional ceramic dinnerware with the goal of bringing people together as well as adding a pop of color and sense celebration into everyday life.
By observing my work, the viewer is immediately struck by the bright, bold color combinations as well as the resin surface details. Drawing inspiration from my memories of Lisa Frank’s unapologetically colorful artwork and the bold fashion statements from the '80s and '90s my work evokes a sense of fun and spontaneity. I take this approach in my own life and wardrobe and my pottery mirrors that same fearless embrace of color and joy. In addition to the bright glazes used, the glittery resin cast pieces demand a second look. Much like the jelly shoes of the ’90s these attached pieces are functional but can also take on the appearance of an accessory to the body of each piece. The plastic quality of the resin also creates a sense of accessibility and fun, that color alone could not achieve. This combination of materials leaves the viewer enticed and wondering what is ceramic and what is not.
When using my pieces in everyday settings, they are able to serve as vessels that facilitate the creation of community. By sharing a cup of coffee, or having a meal with others, social barriers can be broken, bonds are strengthened and connections are made. The bright colors, glitter, and gold create a sense of celebration with each encounter. Whether a table is set with my work, or a bowl is filled with fruit on the counter, my work to invites you to look closer and be welcomed into the idea that a little sparkle and shine can bring the celebration to an ordinary day."
Funded by KSU SGA Fine Arts Fee
Shop for Skin: An Installation by Professor Emeritus Geraldine Craig
October 16 - November 6, 2023
What does it look like when we die? What happens to the energy of a life, when no longer contained by our skin? The architecture of skin is a threshold for so many desires and projections, from inside out and outside in. A membrane of intimacy, joy, and pain. Yet how do we forge a partnership with grief, when the vessel of skin is gone and dissipation of matter isn’t physics theory? Find the forgotten corners, breathe in the dust, shop for skin outside time.
Kansas State University Department of Art presents Shop for Skin an installation by Geraldine Craig. The exhibition will run from October 16 through November 10, 2023 in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery, first floor of Willard Hall. Gallery hours are 8am – 5pm, Monday through Friday. Please feel free to attend the reception with the artists on Monday evening, November 6, from 4:30 to 6:00pm in the gallery. Admission is free and open to the public.
Geraldine Craig’s studio work has been exhibited throughout the United States and Europe, Mexico, Morocco, Japan. She completed a large art commission for University of Kansas Medical Center- Salina with Nelson Smith in 2018. Awards include the 2018-19 Artistic Innovations Grant by Mid-America Arts Alliance & National Endowment for the Arts; International Fellowship, Women’s International Study Center, Santa Fe; Dorothy Liesky Wampler Eminent Professor, James Madison University; Individual Artist Grant, Michigan Council for the Arts; James Renwick Senior Fellow in American Craft, Smithsonian Institution. She was Assistant Director, Cranbrook Academy of Art (2001-2007), and Associate Dean of the Graduate School (2014-18) and Department Head of Art (2007-14) at Kansas State University. She retired in 2022, and is Associate Dean/ Professor of Art Emeritus.
The Mark A. Chapman Gallery on the first floor of Willard Hall, across from the art office, opened in 2005. Cheryl Mellenthin and Mark Chapman funded a complete renovation of the former Willard Hall Gallery, increasing the exhibition space to over 1,400 square feet along with 400 square feet dedicated to exhibition preparation and kitchen facilities. The Department of Art hosts BFA and MFA student exhibitions in the gallery as part of graduation requirements each semester. The technology friendly gallery serves not only exhibition purposes, but also provides a location for an active Visiting Artist lecture program.
Artist Talk presenting Christine Olejniczak, 9:30am via ZOOM
March 17, 2021
Marking Time - The sound of drawing is my kind of music
Wind Map, graphite on paper, 42x29.5", 2019
Drawing is my first language. It's true. It's direct. It's real. I have been performing the sound of drawing on instruments of my own making since 1994. A search for patterns in nature begins with a site-specific investigation. My drawing process involves direct visual observation, scientific data, meteorological video and field recordings. I work through several different mediums that all serve as an extension of the drawing process. The goal is to distill the work into a format that can be experienced as a shared collective experience.
The past couple of years I have been studying wind maps of the United States, particularly the central prairie region, with an interest in using these studies to develop performance scores.
I find the Lawrence/Kansas City area of particular interest because of the convergence of southern winds and northern cold fronts. This area of the United States is often on the edge of two weather systems, a line that segments the north from the south. This line offers an opportunity to observe climate change, the formation of storm fronts and the dissipation of weather systems as eco poetry.
Website: http://www.christineolejniczak.com/
Zoom: https://ksu.zoom.us/j/97309313779
Admission is free and open to the University. Funded by K-State SGA Fine Arts Fee.
Artist Talk presenting Emily Sheehan, 11:45am-12:45pm via ZOOM
October 19, 2020
Moving Forward , Graphite on Paper, 50"x55", 2014
Emily Sheehan received her M.F.A in Visual Studies, with a specialization in Drawing and Sculpture from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) in 2008. Emily holds the position of Associate Professor of Fine Art and Drawing Area Head at Indiana University Southeast. Emily's artistic practice/research utilizes perceptual drawing (drawing from observation in a multi-sensory way) to explore the way marks left on a page become evidence of lived experience. Emily uses both traditional and non-traditional drawing materials, and techniques, to create works that provoke both herself and the viewer to linger in the human space between encounter and recounting where we make our world personal. Emily's work has been exhibited nationally, in group, invitational, and juried exhibitions. Emily is on the board of the Thinking Through Drawing – International Drawing and Cognition research network, which coordinates symposia and events and publications that connect people who are interested in the process and practice of drawing and the ways that drawing both reflects and facilitates thought and perception.
Register HERE (https://ksu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIkd--gqjIoEtYhPENrBy3fd35CtPJo7sLz) (ZOOM registration & meeting Link) and join us on October 19th. Admission is free and open to the University. Funded by K-State SGA Fine Arts Fee.
"Cut" exhibition installation by Ceramic Artist, Kyle Johns
October12-31, 2020
The Kansas State University Art Department presents Kyle Johns installation "Cut" starting Monday, October 12 in the Mark A. Chapman Gallery, Willard 116.
Admission is free and open to the public. Social Distancing and Face Mask protocols should be adhere to whFunded by K-State SGA Fine Arts Fee.
Burst, (2020), colored clay & slipcasthttps://www.kylejohnsceramics.com/
Using the traditionally rigid process of mold making that is at the core of industrial production; I deconstruct and reassemble plaster mold positives to create a multitude of unique forms. The work is created organically, responding to the outcomes and limitations of the process and material. Through play, variation and modification, I look to change simple variables to create new methods and possibilities. I often reference domestic forms that are familiar, as a means to draw a broader connection to my work. These objects exist in the grey area between vessel and sculpture, and question the boundaries of design. Through my work I hope to explore the various degrees of function, from the practical to the sculptural, while generating new ideas for uses, forms, and processes.
View archives of Visiting Artists:
2019-2020 Visiting Artist Series
2018-2019 Visiting Artist Series
2017-2018 Visiting Artist Series
2016-2017 Visiting Artist Series