Kent State University’s School of Art is pleased to announce the artists included in the Friday Artist Lecture Series for spring 2018. Visiting artists and scholars from all over the country come to Kent State to give presentations on their work throughout the school year. Each lecture takes place at noon in Room 165 at the Center for the Visual Arts, which is loacted at 325 Terrace Drive on the Kent Campus.
All artist lectures are free and open to the public. Parking for these events is available at paid meters along Terrace Drive and behind the Center for the Visual Arts. The Visitor’s Lot by the Kent Student Center also is available.
- Jan. 26 - Chalkie Davies, Photographer and Visiting Artist in Art History
- Feb. 2 - John Paul Morabito, Visiting Artist in Textiles
- March 2 - Joseph Lupo, Visiting Artist in Printmaking
- April 6 - Shannon Stratton, Chief Curator at the Museum of Art and Design
- April 20 - Deirdre Murphy, Visiting Artist and Stratosphere Juror
- April 27 - Heidi Hahn, Visiting Artist in Painting
Chalkie Davies, who photographed famous rock musicians such as Elton John, Devo, the Ramones, the Talking Heads, the Smiths and the Clash among many more, will kick off the series on Jan. 26. His interest in classical music and painting has led to the creation of a highly illustrated lecture on the art of photography and its relationship with 15-16th-century paintings.
His lecture will be presented as a musical tableaux. Mr. Davies has spent many months photographing paintings that interest him and comparing them to his work, as well as creating short slideshows that give his view on photography, the influences on his photography and insights into how he worked with his clients, many of whom remain lifelong friends.
Mr. Davies was born in Wales in 1955. Initially training as an aircraft engineer, he joined the Rock and Roll Circus in 1973 after photographing David Bowie’s last concert as Ziggy Stardust.
For the next 15 years, he worked for New Musical Express (NME) and The Face, and he also shot many record covers for people like Elvis Costello, Thin Lizzy, Bowie, David Gilmour, Robert Plant, the Who, the Pretenders and the Specials. His work has been exhibited all over the world, and he had a major retrospective at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff in 2015. More than 43,000 people attended that show.
In 1988, he moved to New York where he turned to still life, producing advertising for companies like Apple, Clinique and The New York Times.