Department of Art Lecture Series
The Department of Art Lecture Series
The Department of Art Lecture Series (DALS) introduces students and the community-at-large to prominent working artists and scholars from a range of fields and studio practices. The department is committed to inviting innovative professionals to lead critiques and workshops for art students as well as give gallery talks and lectures. DALS artists also speak about the processes and influences within their current practice as part of the public lecture series, which is free and open to the public.
2026-27 Department of Art Lecture Series
Steve Ehret
Steve Ehret (Monster Steve) makes careful observations of moss spreading over a fallen tree, or the way Terry talks to his lonely neighbor. He takes mental notes; snapshots of these scenes that can often inspire the phantasmal settings of his paintings. Characters or beings of all shapes and sizes pop up often just to interact or hang within these places. On varying surfaces, he often breaks apart these settings in a way that speaks to the randomness of each passing mile. His goal is not realism, but rather a sense of gravity, atmosphere, wonder, nostalgia, grief and the humor in it all.
Wednesday, September 16, 5:00 PM
McDonough Museum of Art Lecture Hall (Room 3000)
Sujin Kim
Sujin Kim is an award-winning experimental filmmaker specializing in animated documentary, known for her innovative use of cutting-edge animation techniques and 3D visualization tools. Her work explores deeply personal narratives and collective traumas, often focusing on experiences shaped by historical and systemic violence. Rooted in extensive research and interviews, Kim’s practice is driven by a profound personal engagement with the history and politics of women—particularly in relation to her nation’s complex legacy of colonization, war, and national division..
Wednesday, March 10, 2:00 PM
McDonough Museum of Art Lecture Hall (Room 3000)
Recent Artists
2025 - 2026
Ron Copeland
Ron Copeland is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist whose work spans sign painting, assemblage, murals, printmaking, photography, and sculpture. Rooted in a reverence for typography, design, and reclaimed materials, Copeland’s work is an engagement with the visual language of vintage signage and an advertisement of a bygone era into fragmented, dream-like reinterpretations of the past.
Michael Boyd Roman
Michael Boyd Roman is an Assistant Professor of Design & Black Visual Cultures at Oberlin College & Conservatory. Originally from Atlanta, GA, his mixed media and charcoal drawings explore the contemporary Black experience through a blend of religious iconography and pop culture.
2024 - 2025
Katie Butler
Katie Butler is a painter based in Akron, Ohio. Her allegorical still-life paintings provide critical commentary on the financial disparities in American society.
Erin Mallea
Erin Mallea is a multidisciplinary artist who explores the past and present of particular microcosms as entry points into larger human and environmental conditions. She serves as an Assistant Professor of Art at the Pennsylvania State University School of Visual Art.
2023 - 2024
Betsy Stirratt
Betsy Stirratt explores natural and social histories through photographs, books, paintings, objects, and film. She aims to create multiple layered narratives about the interactions of humans and nature.
2021 - 2022
Jacob Hashimoto
Jacob Hashimoto is a graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work—sculptures, paintings, and installations—references video games, virtual environments, and cosmology.
Elana Herzog
Elana Herzog has spent the last two decades as the subject of museum surveys and solo exhibitions across the United States and Europe. She has held residencies at Yaddo, MacDowell, the Joan Mitchell Center, and others.
Kyla Zoe Rafert
Kyla Zoe Rafert creates highly detailed works of women in surrealistic, psychologically potent historical scenes, focusing on conflicting expectations for women and girls.
Robyn O’Neil
Robyn O’Neil is best known for her large-scale graphite on paper drawings. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, an Artadia Grant, and the Hunting Prize.
Murray Robertson
A Master Printer at Glasgow Print Studio, Murray Robertson sources ideas for his work from natural history, maps, scientific imagery, and cultural icons.
Chris Sickels
Chris Sickels creates 3D illustration and stop-motion animation with what is within arm's reach in his studio. He draws inspiration from growing up on a family farm, where things had to be fixed with what was on hand.
Winnie Soon
Winnie Soon is an artist-researcher interested in queering the intersections of technical and artistic practices by studying the areas of software studies and computational practices.