Roo at the Zoo

 

 

Even though Zippy, the kangaroo mascot of The University of Akron, doesn’t live at the Akron Zoo, UA art students will be spending lots of time there for a community engagement project funded this month by the Ohio Arts Council.

 

“Roo at the Zoo” will enable students from UA’s Mary Schiller Myers School of Art to create drawings and sculptures that examine interactions between the zoo’s animals and their human visitors. The Akron Zoo is providing special memberships to the UA art students so that they can observe the animals and work on site.

 

Coordinated by UA art faculty Donna Webb and Matthew Kolodziej, “Roo at the Zoo” will culminate with a student exhibition opening March 28, 2009, at the zoo.

 

The project also has received funds from the UA Myers Artist-in-Residence Program to bring ceramic sculptor Adelaide Paul to Akron in January to work with the art students and to give a free public lecture titled “Why Animals?” on Jan. 28, 6 p.m., in the auditorium of Folk Hall, 150 E. Exchange St.

 

Paul will return to Akron in March to help the UA art students install their artworks at the zoo and to participate in a free panel discussion on March 28 with the zoo’s Doug Piekarz, vice president for collections. A reception will follow the panel presentation at the zoo’s Komodo Kingdom Café.

 

Paul’s work explores the relationships between domesticated animals and humans. She is represented by the Garth Clark Gallery in New York City and is a resident artist at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia.

 

“Roo at the Zoo” is part of Synapse [science+art], an ongoing series begun in 2007 by UA Art Professor Matthew Kolodziej to foster interactions and insights among artists and scientists, campus and community, practicing professionals, and the simply curious. Synapse events include exhibitions, residencies, panel discussions, lectures, workshops, and more.

 

For more information on “Roo at the Zoo” or Synapse, contact The University of Akron’s Myers School of Art at 330-972-6030.