The juror for the 42nd annual USI Juried Student Art Exhibition, to be held April 1-29, is John Begley, a Louisville artist, curator, and gallery director, and founding director of the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art.

Begley selected 181 works of art created in the past year from over 425 works submitted by USI students for inclusion in the show. He currently heads the University of Louisville’s Hite Art Institute galleries and leads its Critical and Curatorial Studies program.

The opening reception for the 42nd annual Juried Student Art Exhibition will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 1, at the McCutchan Art Center/Pace Galleries, with the awards ceremony at 3 p.m.

Over $7800 in merit awards, scholarships, and purchase awards, generously donated by area business and individuals, will be announced at that time. The public is welcome to attend the reception and view the exhibition.

The McCutchan Art Center/ Pace Galleries, located in the lower level of the Liberal Arts Center, is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Begley juried the exhibit on March 21, and presented a lecture that evening titled, “Seeing Influence: Stephen Pace and Anne Cooper Dobbins,” in Kleymeyer Hall in the lower level of the Liberal Arts Center.

His talk was based on a recent exhibit of artwork by Stephen Pace from the USI Art Collection, and the work of Anne Cooper Dobbins, Begley’s student, that he curated at the Hite Institute. He also made remarks about his selections for this year’s exhibit at that time.

Begley holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of New Mexico and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Indiana University. He served as director of the Louisville Visual Art Association for 18 years.

The recipient of the Louis Comfort Tiffany and Getty Museum Management Institute Fellowships, Begley oversaw the growth of the Louisville Visual Art Association to a multi-function exhibition, education, and advocacy art center. He also has been an active advocate for the visual arts in Louisville, the state of Kentucky, and the region.

He has produced hundreds of exhibitions, including shows that have toured the American Midwest and South, Scotland, Germany, France, and Taiwan.

Begley also maintains an active studio practice in drawing, printmaking, book arts, installation, and intermedia combinations that examine the nature of seeing, making, and thinking about the world of art.

More and more people are adopting alternative diets, like vegan and gluten-free, for a variety of reasons. If you’re new to these lifestyles, the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library is offering two programs that you’ll want to mark on your calendar.

On Monday, April 2 at 6:30 pm, North Park Branch will present a program on gluten-free living. If you or someone you know has recently been diagnosed with Celiac Disease, or if you’re simply interested in learning more about living gluten-free and your dietary options, Beth Young, a registered dietician, will share information about gluten-free diets. For more information, please call 428-8237.

If you’ve adopted, or are considering adopting, a vegan diet, Red Bank Branch will present a program on vegan baking on Thursday, April 5 at 6:30 pm. Learn about ingredient options and finding vegan ingredients and recipes. Please reserve your spot at this program by calling 428-8205, or register online at evpl.org.

The Office of Housing and Residence Life is hosting a showing of the documentary film “KONY 2012” at 9 p.m. Monday, April 9, in Forum I in the Wright Administration Building.

Invisible Children is a youth-based organization trying to put an end to a decades-long conflict in Central Africa where a rebel army has been attacking innocent civilians and abducting children.

There also will be a question and answer period with the Invisible Children Roadies and a Ugandan who has first-hand experience with the organization.

The event is free and open to the public. Donations will be accepted and there will be merchandise available for purchase. Refreshments will be served.

For the University of Evansville’s third annual Ethics Lecture, Melissa Snarr, associate dean and associate professor of ethics and society at Vanderbilt Divinity School, will present “Jesus was a Low Wage Worker: Religious Activism for Living Wages.”

Snarr will speak at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 3 in Vectren Lecture Hall (Room 100, Koch Center for Engineering and Science). Her lecture is free and open to the public.

In 1994, a coalition of Baltimore churches initiated a campaign that would change the face of worker justice organizing in the United States. Since then, over 150 cities have passed living wage ordinances in an effort to counter the growing phenomenon of “working poverty.”

“Religious activists have offered important resources to this successful movement through their ethical framing, racial bridge-building, and ritualized protests,” Snarr said. “This lecture will explore lessons — both positive and negative — from the activism of people of faith in the movement.”

Snarr focuses her work on the intersection of religion, social change, and political ethics. Her most recent book, All You That Labor: Religion and Ethics in the Living Wage Movement (NYU Press, 2011), draws on extensive participant observation to analyze and evaluate the contributions of religious activists in the living wage movement. Snarr is also the author of Social Selves and Political Reforms (Continuum, 2007) and several articles in the area of feminist ethics. Her current research projects center on Protestant resources for unionization, as well as an analysis of interfaith organizing as a peace-building practice.

The Ethics Lecture Series, sponsored by UE’s Department of Philosophy and Religion, brings ethicists from both religious and philosophical backgrounds to explore questions of value, justice, responsibility, and meaning in the realm of human conduct and the moral life.

“Lecturers examine significant ethical issues in the contemporary world and ways in which moral reflection might be brought to bear on them,” said Dianne Oliver, chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion and associate professor of religion. “The series is intended to bring focus to the study and practice of ethics among our students and the larger community.”

Previous Ethics Lecture topics have included ethical eating and ethical considerations of faith and politics.

EPD Activity Report March 26, 2012