NIU celebrates 50th anniversary of the opening of Jack Arends Hall

DeKALB – Dorothea Bilder, a professor at Northern Illinois University from 1968 until her retirement in 2000, taught painting, drawing and printmaking.

Bilder often visits the university to meet with students and work on projects. She also provides a scholarship for students every year and provided funds as a grant for a laser printer.

Bilder said that what keeps her coming back to NIU are the people involved in the School of Art and Design.

“NIU is a wonderful campus; this is a great building and it houses and helps educate some of the best people in art,” Bilder said. “The school has done such fantastic things through the years, I can’t even imagine what it and its students will do in the future.”

The School of Art and Design at NIU is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the opening of Jack Arends Hall, the visual arts building, with seven exhibits this fall, featuring former students and faculty and more than 35 visiting artist and lectures this academic year. Venues for the exhibitions include three spaces in Jack Arends Hall and the NIU Art Gallery on the first floor of Altgeld Hall.

Gallery exhibits running through Oct. 19 include:

• “Sweet, Golden and Delicious,” located in the South and Rotunda Galleries of the NIU Art Gallery, an invitational exhibition of studio and design alumni artists recommended by current and former faculty. It’s recent work by six dozen artists from five decades represents 11 areas of visual study

• “Imagery and Icons,” located in the North Gallery of the NIU Art Gallery, showcases work from former tenure and tenure-track faculty

• “Golden: SoAD Arends Hall 50th Anniversary Juried Alumni Exhibition,” located in the Jack Olson Gallery of Jack Arends Hall

• “Alumni Open Mail Art Show,” located in the Annette and Jerry Johns Student Art Gallery of Jack Arends Hall, featuring work from NIU alumni, faculty, retirees and visiting artists.

Jack Arends was the chairman of the department when the $3 million Visual Arts Building was built. NIU rededicated the building in his name in 1989.

“Celebrating 50 years of our art building is also a way to celebrate our alumni and the strength of our programs here in the School of Art and Design,” said John Siblik, director of NIU’s School of Art and Design. “The School of Art and Design has a lot of offers with large and comprehensive programs and a very strong reputation in Illinois, regionally and nationally.”

Siblik, who received his BFA in painting and BS in art education from NIU in 1988, noted that the school’s printmaking program ranked 20th in the country, the art history program 10th in the Midwest and the art education program 10th in the country. The school also has had accreditation through the National Association of Schools of Art and Design for 50 years.

“We are recognized across the country as a leader in the visual arts and one of the top schools for providing high value in visual arts,” Siblik said. “It’s so exciting for students to be able to study multiple areas simultaneously. Our programs and incredible faculty give them different ways of seeing and thinking about the world.”

There are more than 10,000 alumni of the School of Art and Design at NIU. The school currently has 32 tenured and tenure-track faculty, 10 instructors, about 400 undergraduate majors, 100 undergraduate minors and 70 graduate students. Hundreds of additional students take classes the school offers.

Programs offered by the school include Bachelor of Arts degrees in art and art history, Bachelor of Science degrees in art and art and design education, Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees with emphases in visual communication, photography and time arts, four Masters programs, a PhD program in art and design education, and graduate certificates in museum studies and art history. Studio emphases include drawing, illustration, painting, printmaking, ceramics, fiber arts, sculpture, metalwork, jewelry design, digital fabrications and the newest area of study, data visualization.

Mike Rea, who received his BS in art education from NIU in 1999, has been an associate professor teaching sculpture at NIU for seven years.

“It’s nice to see how the school has grown and changed over time,” Rea said. “There’s still familiarity, but with new programs and classes, the school is evolving and continuing on.”

Peter Olson, assistant director of the NIU Art Museum and a 1993 alumni, said he considers the people in the school family.

“Everyone is very supportive, and I’ve made lifelong friends at NIU,” Olson said. “We support each other and our work. What I love the most about NIU’s School of Art and Design is that there’s always something different. We have so many different kinds of classes and studies, so many different exhibits, with different themes, time periods, gender backgrounds and variation of cultures and societies. It’s never boring.

“The college experience you have here is invaluable,” he said. “Combined with the atmosphere of learning, your time at NIU is like nothing else you’ll have the rest of your life.”

Catherine Raymond, professor of art history at NIU for 15 years and director of the Center for Burma Studies, said the classes offered through the School of Art and Design at NIU give students “fresh eyes to discover new ways of art, discovering the world and new opportunities.”

“You can work together with people from around the world with different expertise, all at one university,” Raymond said. “At the [School of Art and Design], students get to explore and study, which is opening the windows to view the world differently.”