Barnum Named Michigan Artist of the Year
Ferris
State University’s Artist-in-Residence Robert Barnum received
the Michigan Artist of the Year Award at a gala evening celebrating
the 17th Annual Governors’ Awards for Arts and Culture held
at the Ford Community Performing Arts Center in Dearborn.
Barnum was recognized in particular for his current
work-in-progress: a monumental 130-by-20-foot canvas tracing the
evolution of human intellectual progress. The mural is slated
to be hung in the extended study area of the Ferris Library for
Information, Technology and Education this fall.
“The award is a great honor,” Barnum said,
after his return from the black-tie event, which also serves as
a fundraiser for ArtServe Michigan.
Beyond the recognition for his own work, Barnum hopes
the award brings attention to Ferris State for all of the public
art the University has commissioned for its ambitious Michigan
Art Walk. “Maybe this will put what we’ve been doing
on the map a little bit,” said Barnum. At 18-feet tall,
his previous large-scale oil painting “The Visionary”
in the University’s Arts and Sciences Commons is literally
one of Michigan Art Walk’s most high-profile stops.
Barnum likes the physicality of working on large projects.
For the last stage of his current project, the artist had to build
a free-standing wall in one of the University’s abandoned
handball courts, which he has made into his studio. With the help
of his wife Lisa and others, he stretched the canvas around three
permanent walls and onto the temporary wall.
With the end of the project in sight, Barnum isn’t
expecting an emotional let-down when the work is completed.
“I’m already thinking about what I’ll
do next, although a 130-foot painting is a little hard to top,”
he admits.
Other Governors’ Award recipients honored by
ArtServe Michigan included Motown legend Smokey Robinson and Detroit-area
emerging artist Jean Alicia Elster. Previous recipients of the
Michigan Artist of the Year Award include Pulitzer Prize-winning
composer William Bolcom and actor Jeff Daniels.
