Design and typography are the subjects of the first exhibitions of 2014-15 opening at the West Virginia University Creative Arts Center’s Mesaros Galleries on Sept. 4. They include works by internationally recognized artists Dennis Ichiyama of Purdue University and Joseph Galbreath, a member of the WVU School of Art and Design faculty. Both exhibitions will be open through Oct. 2.

Ichiyama’s visiting artist lecture about his works scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 4, at 5 p.m., was canceled due to travel delays. It will be rescheduled at a later date. The opening reception for both exhibitions to follow at 6 p.m. was also canceled. Joseph Galbreath will present a visiting artist lecture about his work on Thursday, Oct. 2 at 5 p.m. in Bloch Hall.

In the Laura Mesaros Gallery will be “e t c: 1999 – 2009” by Ichiyama. The letters stand for “experiments in type & color.” This exhibition is a visual typographic survey of work Ichiyama completed over a 10-year period. All the work was printed at various venues in the United States and Italy.

Professor Ichiyama received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Hawaii-Manoa, and a Master of Fine Arts in graphic design from Yale University, School of Art & Architecture. He continued post-graduate studies in design at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule, Basel. He is currently professor in the Visual Communications Design Program in the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Purdue University, West Lafayette campus, where he teaches typography at the undergraduate and graduate levels. His current research focuses on historic wooden type in America and Italy. His designs are in the collections of the Lahti Museum of Poster Art (Finland) and the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Zurich. They have also been published and exhibited in the United States, Canada, Czechoslovakia (the Czech Republic), France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Poland.

His typographic prints and designs have received national awards from the Type Directors Club (New York), and The Mohawk Show. Both awards include an extensive national and international exhibition venue. His typographic works are in the collections of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Columbia University, the Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, the San Francisco Public Library Special Collections Center, the Cary Library of the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Arts of the Book Collection at Yale University Sterling Library.

Opening in the Paul Mesaros Gallery on Sept. 4 will be “Coming Here Soon! On Display: Triangle Poster & Printing Co. with work by Joseph Galbreath.” This exhibition presents a rare look into the archive of one of the last fully functioning poster print shops in the United States. Founded in 1905, Triangle Poster & Printing Co. has generously flung open its shop doors to share a small portion of posters, print blocks and other artifacts. This exhibition also includes the work of Joe Galbreath, assistant professor of graphic design at WVU, who received his Master of Fine Arts from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2009 and his Bachelor of Fine Arts from The University of Akron in 2003.

Galbreath’s interests in graphic design include exploring and documenting vernacular design traditions, manual design making processes and independent publishing. His interest in letterpress technology and new ways of using old things also play an important role in his current research and form making. His work has been featured in Print magazine’s Regional Annual, Indie Publishing, and Fingerprint No. 2: The Evolution of Handmade Elements in Graphic Design. For more information, see: http://www.joegalbreath.com/

Managed and programmed by Curator Robert Bridges and the WVU School of Art & Design, the Mesaros Galleries organize a diverse and exciting schedule of exhibitions throughout the year. The galleries are committed to showing experimental work that is innovative both in terms of media and content. The Mesaros Galleries and the WVU School of Art and Design also host contemporary artists of important or growing reputation who work in all media in the Visiting Artist Program.

All Mesaros Galleries events, including art lectures, exhibitions and receptions are free and open to the public.

Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, from noon to 9:30 p.m. The galleries are closed Sundays and University holidays. Special individual or group viewing times may be arranged upon request.

For more information, contact Robert Bridges, curator, at (304) 293-2312.

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

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