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Sources: Teresa Schmidt, 785-532-6605, tempero@k-state.edu
and Martha Scott, 785-532-7718, marthas@k-state.edu
Website: http://beach.k-state.edu
Graphic available. Download at http://www.k-state.edu/media/newsreleases/may11/504waldstein.jpg
News release prepared by: Beth Bohn, 785-532-2535, bbohn@k-state.edu
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
DRAWING A CROWD: TERESA SCHMIDT IS 2011 FRIENDS OF THE BEACH MUSEUM OF ART GIFT PRINT ARTIST
MANHATTAN -- An artist known for her highly expressive drawings in graphite is the 2011 Friends of the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art gift print artist.
Teresa Schmidt, a longtime professor of art at Kansas State University, was selected for the honor by the museum support group. An exhibition of her work, "Teresa Schmidt: 2011 Friends of the Beach Museum of Art Gift Print Artist," is on display through Aug. 28 at the Beach Museum. It's sponsored by the Friends of the Beach Museum of Art Business Partners.
The exhibition features more than 20 works Schmidt has completed in the last five years using abstraction to express powerful emotions relating to personal events. Works such as "Strung Out" and "Getting Out" are Schmidt's response to the burden of caring for a loved one who is incapacitated. Ethereal images from her "Portal Series" allude to the deaths of her parents who both succumbed to brain cancer.
Schmidt said most of her work draws its energy from the landscape, the figure and everyday objects. Her graphite drawings respond to nature, time and intimacy.
"The graphite medium is, for me, the most direct and immediate," she said. "Drawing in graphite brings me to a heightened sense of the now. I find initial inspiration in nature and then experience the present moment through the work -- the reality that I am alive right this second.
"I employ light, transparency and spatial movement in my imagery. The act of drawing is my subject; the expression is my content. As I draw, I'm searching for extremes in my mark, working to bring forth the unexpected and search for new possibilities," Schmidt said.
Schmidt, who joined K-State in 1972, teaches drawing and printmaking. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees from Central Washington University, Ellenburg. She earned her master of fine arts from Washington State University, Pullman. She has also taught in Washington state, Arbroath, Scotland, and Norwich, England, and has lectured in several states. Her work has been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions and reproduced in several publications, including by Torry Dickinson, K-State professor of women's studies.
Schmidt's exhibition also includes "Waldstein," the etching with chine colle on paper that she created as the 2011 Friends of the Beach Museum of Art limited-edition gift print. More information on becoming a member of the museum support group and purchasing the print is available by contacting the museum at 785-532-7718 or online at http://beach.k-state.edu.
The Beach Museum is on the southeast corner of the K-State campus at 14th Street and Anderson Avenue. Free visitor parking is available next to the building. Normal museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. The museum is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.