Artist-in-residence at Iowa Wesleyan College focuses on Americans Who Tell the Truth
Acclaimed artist and social activist Robert Shetterly will be in residence at Iowa Wesleyan College next week, conducting classes and leading discussions with students, faculty and staff.
Shetterly will present a public program on Thursday, September 24 at 11:00 a.m. in the Iowa Wesleyan College Chapel Auditorium. He will discuss the struggle for social, economic and environmental justice, and the human qualities necessary for success in these struggles. He will illustrate his talk with images from his portrait series, Americans Who Tell the Truth.
Following the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, Shetterly began painting a series of memorable Americans whose noteworthy written or spoken word have made an impact on our culture. That collection, Americans Who Tell the Truth, includes more than 140 portraits, combined with thought-provoking quotes and concise biographies that offer a powerful view into what it means to be American, to hold American values, and to be part of a democratic society.
Twenty of the portraits from the exhibit are on display in the Iowa Wesleyan College Art Gallery, including Rosa Parks, Abraham Lincoln, Helen Keller, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Woody Guthrie among others. Each painting is 36" x 30", acrylic on panel.
A reception for the artist will be held on Thursday, September 24 from 7-9 p.m. in the Iowa Wesleyan Art Gallery. The public is invited. The Iowa Wesleyan Art Gallery is located at the entrance to the P.E.O. Building on North Main Street.
Shetterly’s visit is sponsored by the Haselmayer Endowment for the Arts at Iowa Wesleyan College.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Shetterly graduated in 1969 from Harvard College with a degree in English Literature. While at Harvard he took courses in drawing, which changed the direction of his creative life from the written word to the visual images. During this time he was very active in Civil Rights and in the Anti-Vietnam War movement.
For twelve years he illustrated the editorial page drawings for the Maine Times, the National Audubon's children's newspaper Audubon Adventures, and more than 30 books. Now, his paintings and prints are in collections all over the U.S. and Europe. He is well known for his series of 70 painted etchings in response to William Blake's Proverbs of Hell and for another series of 50 painted etchings reflecting on the metaphor of the Annunciation. His painting has tended toward the narrative and the surreal, and he has not been, until 2002, a portrait painter.
Americans Who Tell the Truth has been a travelling exhibit for more than five years. Venues across the country have included everything from university museums and grade school libraries to sandwich shops and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City. A book of portraits by the same name was published in 2005 and in 2006 won the top award of the International Reading Association for Intermediate Non-fiction.
The Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellows Program, which is administered by the Council of Independent Colleges in Washington, Dc, brings prominent artists, diplomats, journalists, business leaders and other professionals to campuses across the United States for week-long residential programs.
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For more information, contact Ann Klingensmith, professor of art, Iowa Wesleyan College, 319.385.6360, or by email at aklingen@iwc.edu
www.cic.edu/projects_services/visitingfellows/visiting_fellows_bios.asp#SHETTERLY
