The Loveliest Village

Behind the Mask: African Art from the Ellen Hobbs Collection & the Kennedy Museum of Art is an art collection at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts at Auburn University.

The collection will be in the museum until Spring graduation on Saturday, May 10, 2008.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Marilyn Laufer, Director of the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts at Auburn University and Andrew Henley, the Education Curator for K-12.

They gave great insight about the history of the African masks and how they were used. I learned the masks also vary from culture to culture. It was interesting to find out what the meanings were “behind the mask.”

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It’s a two-story building shaded by trees and almost unnoticeably small compared to the Jordan Hare Stadium.  It’s a place where design projects and photographs cover the bare walls like decorative wall paper.  It’s a place where students have drawing tables rather than desks and markers, Exactos and rulers rather than pencils and scantrons.  It’s the industrial design building, home to industrial design majors and Yellawood’s partners in an extension to their brand.
 As third year students try to balance studio, methods classes and photography class they also must gain real world experience. 

Yellawood, a pressure treated wood company, has asked for the third years to create a brand identity, logo, packaging and point of purchase for its company expansion project. 
 As of now, the names “English Hillâ€? and “Edinbrigdeâ€? have been considered with logos portraying heather green pears and a khaki backdrop. (more…)

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Auburn University’s Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art hosted “John James Audubon: Naturalism and Romanticism,” at 2 p.m. Thursday. The symposium reflected one of the permanent exhibitions.

The presentation opened with Taylor Littleton, president of the museum’s advisory board. Littleton spoke on the Louise Hauss and David Brent Miller Audubon Collection that is held in the Jule Collins Smith Museum. (more…)

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The Auburn University Department of Art and the Opelika Arts Association present an exhibition of sculpture created by Auburn University art students.  The show, “Selections from the Auburn University Sculpture Program” is being held in the Opelika Arts Association Gallery at 1032 S. Railroad Ave. in Opelika.  The show exhibits diverse media and a wide range of styles.  (more…)

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You wouldn’t imagine a professor once having a job driving an ice cream truck.  Or doing janitorial work.  Running a lawn business seems much too normal as well.  But for Auburn graphic design professor Carlton Nell, these were just stops on the ride that has brought him to his position today.

“This is the best job I’ve ever had for sure,� Nell said.  “If I ever start complaining, I have to kinda sit back and think I could be cutting grass or something.�

Originally from a small town near Mobile, Ala. called Satsuma, Nell did his undergraduate at Auburn and then went to Georgia State for graduate school.  He met his wife of almost 15 years while he was studying in Atlanta, Ga.  The couple has five children, three older boys and two younger girls.  Their large family lives 15 minutes from Auburn in Waverly, Ala.  

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