The University of Arkansas Department of Art hosted visiting artist Adriane Herman from Nov. 7-10.

Herman is an artist and printmaker who designs performative events for people to relinquish physical or symbolic items as a way of stating intentions to let go of non-tangible things before a group of encouraging witnesses. She has shown work in exhibitions in New York; Chicago; Portland, Maine; and Sweden. Her work is included in prestigious collections such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Walker Art Center, and the Ulrich Museum. She has received a Rocket Grant funded by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and administered by the Charlotte Street Foundation and the Spencer Museum of Art.

Herman's independent efforts to normalize art consumption dovetail with curatorial collaborations like Slop Art and projects undertaken with students at Maine College of Art, where she is associate professor of the M.F.A. program in visual art and foundation. Herman holds a B.A. from Smith College, an M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and she has even lectured at more than 50 institutions across the country.  

Herman worked alongside students and faculty on a collaborative print edition with Red Ridge Editions that utilized traditional printmaking processes and emergent technologies. Red Ridge Editions is the collaborative fine art print publishing and research component of the University of Arkansas Department of Art's Printmaking area. Herman also met with undergraduate and graduate students in one-on-one and group settings to discuss and critique their work.

Herman concluded her visit with a lecture on her recent work and projects on Thursday, Nov. 10, in Hillside Auditorium. Continued conversation and viewing of the collaborative edition prints was held in the printmaking studio in the Fine Arts Center.

This scholar series was hosted and funded through the McIlroy family. The McIlroy Family Visiting Professorship in Performing and Visual Arts, established in 2005 through the philanthropy of Hayden and Mary Joe McIlroy and the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation, supports the teaching and work of a professional artist who imparts highly specialized knowledge essential to students' artistic, educational, and career enrichment and valuable to the community at large.

The Department of Art, as well as the Joy Pratt Endowment Fund, provided additional support for this Visiting Artist/Scholar Series.