Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia Lamar Dodd School of Art will present a lecture by the fall 2013 Dodd Professorial Chair Kendall Buster on Sept. 3 at 5:30 p.m. in Room 151 of the art school. The lecture is free and open to the public.
The Lamar Dodd Professorial Chair, established to honor the first chair of what was then the UGA art department, is an annual appointment to an outstanding visual artist who has demonstrated a commitment to teaching in the studio or classroom. During their term, the holder of the chair is bestowed the rank of full professor at the university level.
A full-time faculty member in the department of sculpture and extended media at Virginia Commonwealth University, Buster’s large-scale “biological architecture” projects have been exhibited in numerous national and international venues. She has been interviewed on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” as part of a series on art and science and was the recipient of a 2005 American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in the Arts.
“Sculpture can expand beyond the idea of the making of a distinct, autonomous object and into site-responsive installation,” Buster said. “The way I work tends to engage architectural spaces, often using a variety of materials that may not be permanent and so there is this wonderful opportunity to do all kinds of things with scale, play and volume.”
A native of rural Alabama, Buster’s education began in the sciences, particularly biology and microbiology, which now inform her work.
“A lot of these pieces have accessible interiors and operate like models that transform a given architectural space,” she said. “And there are certain kinds of references to what we think of as the language of biology, in that many of the materials I use really do resemble a membrane.”
Buster previously visited UGA and the school of art in 2002 as a visiting artist. Her installation “Subterrain (White Field Column)” in the former school of art facility on Jackson Street, as well as other projects, can be viewed at http://www.kendallbuster.com.
For more information, see http://art.uga.edu/events/lecture-by-kendall-buster-fall-2013-dodd-chair.
