APSU 80s Art Alumni

How often do we get the opportunity to see an amazing art exhibit and have a glass of wine with twenty old friends in the same night? Saturday’s reunion in Clarksville was really great, and I’m glad so many of you could be there. The people above are me (Todd Duren), Gina Binkley, Bruce Childs, Susan Bryant, Lisa Cook, Mary Irwin, Mary (Irwin) Maxwell, Barabara (Hicks) Ladd, Tammy (Married name?) McKissack, and Hobart Payne.

For those of you that couldn’t make it (Scott, Jody, Ken, Clarence, et al), I’ll try to recall the highlights. First Karen and Hobart and I poked around in the Trahern Building, which has changed a lot since we were there. Then there was the opening for Olen Bryant’s amazing retrospective at the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center. At 80, Olen is looking back on a rich career as an artist an educator, and his exhibit is an impressive accomplishment. Afterward Susan Bryant invited us to the Downtown Artists Gallery where we slurped chardonnay and caught up on each other’s lives. I’d love for people to post their comments below. Oh, and click on the “more pictures” link in the sidebar to see some of my pix from the event.

Oh, and please click the email link and send me contact info for your old Trahern friends!

I emailed Larry Hortenbury last week, and got this kind reply:

Todd,

Thanks for the invite. You are terrific people. How could I have been so lucky as to have so many incredibly smart and creative people as students and friends during my years there? I would say it must have been something in the water in Clarksville, but many of you arrived already alive to the arts or at least alive to what art can do and can be in your lives. I don’t know that I can get there on the 15th but I will be thinking about you guys with many fond memories. The work was a good kind of hard, but the jokes and laughter were better!

Todd, I hope your adventures into real estate are going well.

Larry

Just when you thought it was safe to make art again–the undead Austin Peay art majors from the 80s are back, and they have their own blog!!! You can click and drag around, but be sure and click on the comment link above each post to leave a comment.

Welcome to apsuart.edublogs.org. This is where the art and design alums from Austin Peay can catch up on each other’s lives and learn about our get-together in Clarksville, TN on September 15. I’m Todd Duren (’86) and I’ll be posting updates as often as I can.

This all started when Gina Binkley (’84) and I ran into each other at a Chip Kidd lecture in Chattanooga. We had not seen each other in over a decade. She told me our sculpture professor Olen Bryant is having a retrospective show at the museum in Clarksville on September 15. We thought it would be great to get some of us together to celebrate and wish Olen well.

Well, I’ve got two little girls who need watching, so my wife Karen can go running this morning. I’ll post more soon. Oh yeah, be sure you email a link (just copy from the www box above) to all your art friends from Austin Peay. We want to infect every 80s art major alum we can find! Mmwahaha!