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Unknown artistChinese Blue and White Porcelain Plaque, Kangxi Period, ca. 1662-1772Porcelain7.5 x 10.25 in.Gift of Dan McLawhorn, Class of 1970, and Robert J. Hazelgrove, Jr. While this may look like a simple painting, it is actually a porcelain plaque painted with brilliant blue and white glazes. I had the chance to examine and discuss this artwork in my Asian Art After 1000 class this semester. This porcelain artwork is from the Kangxi Period, although its artist is unknown. The Kangxi Period lasted from 1662-1772 under the reign of Emperor Kangxi within the Qing Dynasty, China. Blue and white glazed porcelain...

As a child, I remember the joy of waking up on a cold Monday morning and realizing I could spend the day at home. Looking back, though I knew it was Presidents’ Day, I did not think much of it, aside from my gratitude for the day off.  As a political science major, I reflect on my youthful lack of awareness with curiosity, but in retrospect, it is no surprise that the holiday was not on my radar. I never actually learned about the origins or significance of Presidents’ Day in school, and as such, I didn’t give much thought...

Magdalena Abakanowicz (Polish, 1930-2017)The Group of Ten, 2011Bronze63.5 x 74 x 96 in.Gift of the Artist; Pat and B.D. Rodgers; Linda and George Kelly, parents of Win Kelly, Class of 2002, and Madeline Kelly, Class of 2008; Katherine Belk-Cook; and Virginia Newell, Class of 1978 There's an uncanniness to Abakanowicz's bronze figures, arranged in a battalion-like configuration between Chambers and Union. The uneven spacing and varying heights of the figures communicate the individual and collective experience of being in a crowd, and their scarred surface textures allude to the texture of tree bark. Abakanowicz's The Group of Ten was installed...