Maria Lux Selected as William Paterson University Artist-In-Residence for Fall 2014 Award-winning visual artist Maria Lux of Champaign, Illinois, whose work spans a wide range of media from traditional drawing and painting methods, watercolor illustration, and scientific diagrams, to photography, dioramas, wooden constructions, and large-scale sculpture, has been selected as William Paterson University’s Artist-in-Residence for fall 2014. The work she produces during the residency will be featured in a solo exhibition in the William Paterson University Galleries on campus in spring 2015. William Paterson University’s Artist-in-Residence Program provides access to its Center for New Art, a unique facility for the creation of art and design using 21st century tools including computer numerical control mills, laser cutters and 3D printers. Previous artists in residence have included Michael Joaquin Grey, Katy Schimert, Richard Klein and Benjamin Phelan. Lux will be in residence on campus over a six-week period during fall 2014. In addition to producing artwork, she will lecture to the University’s art students as well as high school students in the Paterson Public Schools. The residency will culminate in a solo exhibition in the University Galleries in spring 2015 with an accompanying publication. Her current work uses a variety of material approaches to create installations concerning animals. Her projects often begin with existing research and stories from other fields—such as evolutionary biology, medicine, agriculture, history, literature, film, and anthropology—and use the tools of visual artistic practice to create cross-disciplinary, installation-based works. Lux has participated in more than 30 group exhibitions throughout the country, as well as numerous solo and two-person exhibitions. She has previously been an artist-in-residence at the Prairie Center of the Arts in Peoria, Ill., and at Figure One in Champaign, Ill. She has received several awards and grants, including the Illinois Arts Council Artist Project Grant, a City of Urbana Arts Grant, and a Creative and Performing Arts Materials Fellowship from the University of Illinois. A graduate of Iowa State University with a bachelor of fine arts degrees in art and design and graphic design, she earned a master of fine arts degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Funding for the residency program including the exhibition and catalog has been provided in part by an Art Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Art Works grants support the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and enhancing the livability of communities through the arts. Funding for the William Paterson University Galleries is also provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. The Center for New Art studies aspects of the use of technology in the arts. It is an open forum where makers, thinkers and doers will present their work through lectures, workshops, symposia, and exhibitions. For more information, visit www.wpunj.edu/coac/departments/art/center-for-new-art/. The William Paterson University Galleries serve as a cultural resource for the University by presenting exhibitions of contemporary art, overseeing the University’s art collections, and offering education programs. Located in the Ben Shahn Center for the Visual Arts, the Galleries present solo and thematic exhibitions that engage with the University and surrounding communities and respond to significant trends in contemporary art. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on select Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. The University Galleries are wheelchair accessible. Large print educational materials are available. For additional information, please visit www.wpunj.edu/coac/gallery or call the William Paterson University Galleries at 973-720-2654. Facebook: www.facebook.com/WPUGalleries Twitter: twitter.com/WPUGalleries Instagram: instagram.com/wpugalleries 05/21/14
