May 1 Retirement Reception planned for Charles Caldemeyer, professor of art

The Ashland University Art Department will host a retirement reception for Charles Caldemeyer in the Coburn Art Gallery, on Thursday, May 1 from noon to 1:00 p.m.  Faculty, staff, students and friends are welcome to come and wish him well.

Caldemeyer has been a professor of art at Ashland University since 1990, teaching all levels of painting as well as color theory and drawing courses.   He leaves behind a lasting impact on the Art Department.  Caldemeyer served as chair of the Art Department from 2003-2006.  In the early 90s he designed the university’s digital art coursework and created the review process which is used to track the overall artistic development of art majors.  He was responsible for creating the department’s Computer Art and Graphics Programming degree in conjunction with the Math & Computer Science Department in the 1990s.  He was also instrumental in creating and advocating for the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. 

However, Caldemeyer's real love is painting.  His studio work has won numerous awards at the regional, national and international levels.  In his current Structures series he employs a variety of artistic media to create a series of detailed panels arranged along a central axis. Each panel provides a rich layer of stories, icons, and connections to the other scenes depicted, creating a complex whole work worthy of study at length.  His Grids series emphasizes pattern and color with large oil-on-canvas abstractions, as well as landscape forms.  Samples of his artwork can be viewed at the Pittsburgh-based “Box Heart Gallery” (www.boxartgallery.com).

 

Caldemeyer received a B.A. in painting from the University of South Florida in 1986 and an M.F.A. from Washington University in St. Louis in 1990.  While at Ashland University, he also served four-terms as a faculty senator from the College of Arts & Sciences, and he has served on numerous committees, including seven years on the Budget Committee, two academic review committees, the College of Arts & Sciences Tenure and Promotion Committee and the Core Advisory Council.