UM Art Department hosting Blue Nature colloquium March 5-6

February 28, 2020

The University of Montevallo Department of Art is hosting a two-day interdisciplinary colloquium on the theme of Blue Nature on the University’s campus from March 5-6. The events will take place in Humanities Hall and Bloch Hall.

The colloquium features faculty research and creative endeavor, students’ art installations and research projects and guest lectures. The events are free and open to the public.

The colloquium will include four sessions featuring UM faculty and students in the Merchants and Planters Bank Auditorium in Humanities Hall:

-Session I: The Nature of Blue – March 5, 2:30-4 p.m.

-Session II: The Blue in Between – March 6, 10-11 a.m.

-Session III: Blue Fiction – March 6, 1-2 p.m.

-Session IV: Teaching and Learning Blue – March 6, 2-3:30 p.m.

AZUL/BLUE, an exhibition that premiered at the Havana Biennial, will be on view throughout the colloquium in the Bloch Hall Gallery. The exhibition features collaborations between 34 Cuban and American artists. The gallery will host a reception and artists’ talk at 5 p.m. on March 5, featuring an introduction by Karen Graffeo, UM professor of art, and a talk by New York artist Susan Sechler Luss and Cuban artist Tatico Cuban.

From 11-11:30 a.m. on March 6, a gallery talk on the Cahaba River Watershed Project will take place on the ground floor of Bloch Hall. The talk will be given by UM professors of art Scott Stephens and Lee Somers and UAB Assistant Professor of New Media Elisabeth Pellathy.

A roundtable addressing the past, present and future of local water resources will be held in Merchants and Planters Bank Auditorium from 3:30-5 p.m. on March 6. The roundtable will feature Cahaba Riverkeeper David Butler, Birmingham Storm Water Program Manager Direcus Cooper, Cahaba River Society Environmental Educator La’Tanya Scott, UM Professor of Biology Mike Hardig and UM art student Luzena Donnell.

The keynote lecture will be delivered by Loyola University New Orleans Provost Distinguished Professor Hillary Eklund from 5:30-7 p.m. in the Merchants and Planters Bank Auditorium. Eklund’s lecture is titled “Confounding Mastery in Early Modern Wetlands.”

For the colloquium’s full schedule, visit  montevallo.edu/blue-nature.