The Art Museum of West Virginia University and The Friends of the Museum announce the next “Art Up Close!” event of the spring semester, part of a series focusing on individual works of art from the museum collection. The next event will be held Wednesday, April 3.

Titled “Worshipping Lenin? Komar and Melamid’s ‘Lenin at the Palladium,’” the lecture will be presented by Kristen Harkness, currently a lecturer in art history at WVU and an instructor at the University of Pittsburgh

The “Art Up Close!” presentations are held from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Museum Education Center (formerly the Erickson Alumni Center) adjacent to the WVU Creative Arts Center. All the events are free and open to the public.

Harkness received her doctorate in art history from the University of Pittsburgh. She specializes in 19th-century Russian art, focusing on women artists, nationalism, and medieval revivalism in the arts and crafts. She has also provided the English translation for several bilingual catalogs for exhibitions of women’s contemporary art in Russia, including the recent International Women’s Day exhibition, which opened March 8 in Moscow. She has a publication forthcoming on Mariia Lakunchikova’s personal and artistic relationship with French Decadence.

Each “Art Up Close!” presentation features an original work of art and commentary by WVU faculty, followed by a question and answer session and light refreshments.

This series of lectures is designed to give an in-depth look at a single work of art selected from the WVU Art Collection. Audience members will have the opportunity to view the actual work of art.

For more information, contact the Art Museum of WVU at (304) 293-2141 or see the website at: http://www.ccarts.wvu.edu/art_museum.

-WVU-

cl/03/27/13

CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu

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