By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
A new year brings new exhibits to the Albrecht Kemper Museum of Art in St. Joseph.
The first big exhibit will begin tomorrow as the museum presents the 48th annual membership exhibition.
Museum Executive Director Eric Fuson says members are limited in how much art they can submit to the exhibit, but there is a chance they could bring something else home.
"Each member is allowed two pieces, if they have a family membership, they can have three, so they can have three different artists on those, we do limit it a little bit that way, but otherwise it's the artists choice what they get to put in," Fuson tells Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. "Then we have three outside jurors that come in and anonymously rate the work, and then we give awards."
Fuson says he himself has had pieces on display in the annual exhibit, and says it's truly incredible as an artist to get the chance to watch people as they view his works.
"Been in the show many times over the years, and it's wonderful to be a fly on the wall, because artists create so much in their own spaces, at home and stuff, and then to put it out and in front of people and to get some feedback you know," Fuson says. "And if you enter in with an open mind and listen, it's amazing the perspective that you get on what you make, you looked at it one way, but you see multiple ways that people see it."
Running alongside the membership exhibit will be pieces by Benjamin Parks and Kathy Liao titled Returning/Belonging. That exhibit will run until April 17th.
Aspiring artists will also get a chance to bring out their artistic side at the Albrecht Kemper. Fuson says he is excited to help present a beginner's course at the museum on Wednesdays beginning January 19th.
Fuson says this course is designed specifically for beginner's, focusing on some of the very basic tips to begin drawing.
"We're gonna start off right down to, you know, how do you sharpen that pencil correctly, how do you hold it, how do you sit to draw right, you know there's all kinds of things you don't even think about," Fuson says. "But we're gonna kind of go over proportions, and how to create lines and then shadows, and all kinds of stuff, so we'll take you from the very beginning right on up."
The course will run through March 9th and will be led by Fuson.
You can learn more about the membership exhibit HERE, the Return/Beginning exhibit HERE, and the Beginner's drawing course HERE.