Arts & Design Stories & News

New UNI projection art festival to feature local artists

The first-ever Cedar Valley Illuminate Art and Light Festival will debut this weekend in the College Hill area, a projection art showcase featuring 15 installations from local artists, students and community organizations conceived around a theme of promoting social justice and societal change.

A student working

New festival to illuminate local artists

Amidst the darkness of the pandemic, a team of University of Northern Iowa students and faculty are bringing a ray of light.

The first-ever Cedar Valley Illuminate Art and Light Festival will debut in the College Hill area this weekend, a projection art showcase featuring 15 installations from local artists, students and community organizations conceived around a theme of promoting social justice and societal change.

UNI student Isaac Campbell

Public art sparks personal transformation for UNI grad

Growing up in Ottumwa, Isaac Campbell never imagined he’d get the opportunity to work on projects for national art galleries abroad, or work alongside a world-renowned French artist at the Louvre in Paris. But at UNI, he gained the skills and made the connections to gain access to once-in-a-lifetime opportunities — and develop lifelong passions.

UNI junior graphic design major Roshan Subba

A portrait of life in the pandemic

At just 9 years old, Roshan Subba made the incredible journey from a refugee camp in Nepal to Des Moines. Though Subba has few memories of his time in the camp, one thing he remembers is watching other children practicing calligraphy. Subba dreamed of being able to create intricate art like that someday.

Now, he’s a senior graphic design major at UNI and his first solo art show, “Modernism,” is being showcased through June 23 by Waterloo community center COR 220 East.

UNI assistant professor Francesca Soans

UNI’s GBPAC to host sneak preview of new documentary about local musician

UNI’s Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center will host a virtual sneak preview community screening of “Getting That Note Out” a new documentary film by UNI Associate Professor of Digital Media and filmmaker Francesca Soans, at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 9. The screening is co-sponsored by the North End Cultural Center. 

UNI Assistant Director of Campus Services Brian Hadley showcases an ash tree trunk ravaged by the Emerald ash borer.

Rising from the ashes

If you walk around the University of Northern Iowa campus with the right kind of eyes, you can see signs of both an arboreal crisis and the beginning of a new chapter of UNI’s biodiversity.

UNI campus

UNI School of Music to host outdoor concerts on UNI campus

Starting this week, the University of Northern Iowa School of Music will continue its 2020-21 series of outdoor concerts on the UNI campus, weather permitting. 

UNI campus

UNI Gallery of Art to present online Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition

The University of Northern Iowa Gallery of Art and the UNI Department of Art will present the "Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition" from March 29 through April 25.UNI campus

UNI Strayer-Wood Theatre

TheatreUNI announces streamed performance of “It’s Greek to Me”

TheatreUNI will present a virtual performance of “It’s Greek to Me,” which will become available for streaming later this month. 

In this collaborative performance, students will present classical Greek texts, and their personal responses to those texts – exploring themes such as inequality and racism along the way.UNI Strayer-Wood Theatre

Amy Osatinski, director, says she hopes “It’s Greek to Me” will get the audience thinking about their own relationships to Greek theatre.

The nyan cat

Why did a rainbow cat GIF just sell for nearly $600,000? A UNI art professor explains

Unique pieces of digital art known as NFTs (nonfungible tokens) have begun taking the art world by storm. A special anniversary version of the famous Nyan Cat gif recently sold for $560,000. And this week Christies became the first major auction house to sell an original NFT work of art. InsideUNI asked art history professor Elizabeth Sutton about this trend and what it says about our digital and real-world lives. 

What issues do you see in the future with digital art vs more traditional pieces? And what is art ultimately?