The final two Hixson-Lied Visiting Artists this spring, painter Josephine Halvorson and graphic designer Ryan Anderson, will present on Thursday, April 27.
Halvorson will present a Hixson-Lied Visiting Artist Lecture at 5:30 p.m. in Richards Hall Rm. 15. Anderson will present a graphic design workshop at 7 p.m. in Woods Art Building Rm. 105. Both events are free and open to the public.
The School of Art, Art History & Design’s Hixson-Lied Visiting Artist & Scholar Lecture Series brings notable artists, scholars and designers to Nebraska each semester to enhance the education of students.
Halvorson is professor of art and chair of graduate studies in painting at Boston University. She makes art that foregrounds firsthand experience and takes the form of painting, sculpture and printmaking.
Born in Brewster, Massachusetts, Halvorson studied at The Cooper Union, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts; Yale Norfolk; and Columbia University, where she received her Master of Fine Arts.
In 2021, she was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. She is the recipient of several major international residencies and fellowships, including the U.S. Fulbright to Vienna, Austria; the Harriet Hale Woolley at the Fondation des États-Unis in Paris, France; and was the first American pensionnaire at the French Academy in Rome at the Villa Medici in 2014-2015.
Her work has been exhibited internationally. Selected exhibitions include SECCA, Storm King Art Center and the ICA Boston Foster Prize Exhibition. In 2021-2022 she had a solo exhibition at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she was an artist-in-residence. She currently has a solo exhibition on view at Sikkema Jenkins through April 22.
Anderson has worked in the advertising industry for more than 25 years. His background is in creative—specifically creative direction, art direction and design. However, he's had the opportunity to lead all aspects of advertising agencies from top to bottom. He helped build those agencies into creative powerhouses, garnering the top creative awards in the industry all while creating year-over-year agency growth.
Additionally, a great culture is important to the well-being of any company so he was happy that the agencies he's been a part of were recognized with several "Top Places To Work" awards.
Over the years, Anderson has worked on some well-known brands including Intel, Mrs. Fields, Krispy Kreme, The Olympic Games, Verizon, Radisson, Micron, Creamies, Jackson Hole Ski Resort, Muzak, The Las Vegas Raiders, Big Brothers Big Sisters and The Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, to name a few.
During the workshop, students in the graphic design program of the School of Art, Art History & Design will show their work and get feedback from Anderson.
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 & Design at (402) 472-5522 or e-mail schoolaahd@unl.edu.