Monday, August 31, 2015

Studio San Giuseppe Exhibition Announcement

(Cincinnati, OH) – Studio San Giuseppe Art Gallery at Mount St. Joseph University is honored to present “Slow Motion” (September 20 – October 23, 2015).  Slow Motion is an installation exhibition of work by Cincinnati artist Kristine Donnelly who hand cuts intricate designs into paper, resulting in layered collage and sculpture exploring time, space, and ornamentation.  The public is cordially invited to meet and talk with Kristine Donnelly during the opening reception, which will be held Sunday, September 20, 2015, 2:00 – 4:00 pm.   There will be an Artist Talk at 3pm.  *Special Press Preview Opportunity in the gallery at 1pm: RSVP by emailing [velma.dailey@msj.edu].  
Inspired by historical ornament and pattern, Kristine Donnelly creates large-scale cut paper sculptures. Her work is the result of a painstaking laborious process. Using a simple blade, she hand cuts intricate designs onto patterned paper. The patterns are an unrecognizable image inspired by wallpaper, lace, and geometry. Through hand screenprinting, Donnelly reproduces and repeats the patterns onto long rolls of paper, waiting to be cut. The repetitive motion, and choreographed act of cutting and printing the pattern, is both meditative and obsessive. The cutting destroys sections of the printed pattern and reveals fragments of designs and walls hidden below.
Rather than hiding or preserving its fragility, Donnelly’s work tests the tolerance of paper. Through cutting, stitching, pinning, and stretching, she pushes the material to its most fragile skeleton and beyond. As she struggles to transform such an ephemeral material, her work questions the function and frivolity of decoration.
Kristine Donnelly lives in Cincinnati, Ohio and teaches art at Highlands High School in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. Her growing interest in pattern and design was sparked by an artist residency in Prague, Czech Republic. While studying the ornamentation that saturates Eastern Europe, Donnelly began creating small cut paper collages from abstracted patterned forms. Her work has since evolved into large-scale paper sculptures and installation. She is the recipient of a Summerfair Individual Artist Grant. Donnelly has exhibited locally and regionally, including the Carl Solway Gallery, University of Cincinnati Galleries, 21C Museum Hotel, The Carnegie Arts Center and Taft Museum of Art.
Studio San Giuseppe is a nonprofit art gallery located in the Dorothy Meyer Ziv Art Building on the campus of Mount St. Joseph University, Delhi and Neeb roads in Delhi Township, 15 minutes west of downtown Cincinnati. 
Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Saturdays and Sundays 1:00 – 5:00 PM.  The Gallery is closed on major holidays.  Admission is free.  For more information, call Studio San Giuseppe at 513-244-4314, www.msj.edu.  Mount St. Joseph University is a Catholic, non-profit college of 2,400 students located in Cincinnati, Ohio; Mount  St. Joseph University offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in interdisciplinary liberal arts and professional curricula.

Friday, August 28, 2015

Studio San Giuseppe Exhibition of Mount Student Art & Design

(Cincinnati, OH) – The Studio San Giuseppe Art Gallery at Mount St. Joseph University presents the annual “Exhibition of Mount Student Art & Design,” from June 1 to September 11, 2015.  The premiere show of the Gallery’s 2015-2016 exhibition schedule features outstanding student works from the 2014-2015 academic year.  Selected student works represent every aspect of the Mount’s Departments of Art & Design, including Ceramics, Computer Graphics/Web & Interactive Design, Drawing, Graphic Design, Illustration, Interior Architecture & Design, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Typography, and 2-D & 3-D Design Foundations.  Also featured are Senior Thesis Degree projects from Art, Fine Arts, Art History, Graphic Design and Interior Architecture and Design.
Photo Credit: Mount St. Joseph University Website

The Closing Reception will be held on Friday, September 11, 5:00 –7:00 pm, with a special exhibition awards presentation at 6:30 pm.  The public is cordially invited to meet many of the student-artists, view their work, and get acquainted with art & design faculty members.
Studio San Giuseppe is a nonprofit art gallery located in the Dorothy Meyer Ziv Art Building on the campus of Mount St. Joseph University, Delhi and Neeb roads in Delhi Township, 15 minutes west of downtown Cincinnati. 
Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Saturdays and Sundays 1:00 – 5:00 PM.  The Gallery is closed on major holidays, including Labor Day, Monday, September 7.  Admission is free.  For more information, call Studio San Giuseppe at 513-244-4314, www.msj.edu.  Mount St. Joseph University is a Catholic, non-profit college of 2,400 students located in Cincinnati, Ohio; Mount  St. Joseph University offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in interdisciplinary liberal arts and professional curricula.

Monday, August 24, 2015

Interview with 2015 Grand Award Winner, Lauryn Olivia King

Lauryn Olivia King (right) and her piece, entitled "Hollow"

AICUO EVAs 2015 Grand Award Winner, Lauryn Olivia King, shares with us her experiences and plans as an artist. She will be returning to the 2016 EVAs as a second round judge. 

What is your backstory as how you got involved in art?
           
When I was very young my aunt bought me a little plastic pottery wheel that my father taught me to throw on. From that moment on I absolutely loved playing with clay, working with my hands, and throwing pieces on my wheel. Then, when I reached middle school, the art room happened to be equipped with a full sized pottery wheel. So I continued to throw and get better with working with clay.  At this point I loved working with my hand and with clay immensely, so my dad and I took open studio classes at the local art center. I began to use art as a way to relax and as a coping mechanism to help handle my depression. By the time I finished high school I knew that if I wanted to be happy in my life I was going to have to pursue a career as an artist.

Your art is so powerful and there is such a meaningful message behind each piece, where do you draw your inspiration from?

My inspiration comes primarily from what I have experienced in my life. I use the depression I have endured as a springboard for many of my sculptures. I also draw upon my friends and family’s experiences with mental health. Much of my artwork comes from how mental illness affects the people who suffer from them and their loved ones. I am also inspired by how people who have suffered from mental illnesses are depicted in the media and the fine art world, mainly the lack of representation of different races.

What is the most important message you want the audience to take away from your work?

The primary message I want people to take away from my art is that mental illness are a very real problem in today’s society and they can affect anyone. I want people to understand that there is a difference between what the media portrays as mental health and what having a mental illness is actually like. Almost everything that has to do with mental health is portrayed by Caucasian people. I have found that this is true for both the media and the fine art world. I am exhausted of seeing primarily Caucasian people represented in our society when these problems affect everyone. Through my art I want people to realize that every person can be affected by mental illness regardless of their race. To do this I use a dark patina on my figures, which allows almost everyone to relate to my figures.

Kelly Phelps (far left), Xavier University's Chair of the Art Department, and King's family just after King received her award sculpture. 

How did attending a Xavier help you find yourself as an artist?

Attending Xavier University allowed me to learn different processes that I use in my work. Xavier helped me expand my ideas through taking non-art related classes simultaneously with art classes. The small class sizes gave me the individual attention that I needed when I first started college to develop my thoughts into artwork. When I was completing the art for my thesis show my professor gave me the space I needed to do it on my own, like I would be doing as soon as I graduated college.  Being so close to my mentor at Xavier helped me find myself as both a person and as an artist. 

How did participating and winning the EVAs affect your life as an artist?

Participating and winning the EVAs has given me opportunities to show my work, which has led into many different people purchasing my art. Winning the EVAs has also given me the funds to expand what I can do with my artwork and help me buy some of the equipment I need to make my work.

What advice do you have for students wanting to pursue the arts as a profession?

My advice for students who are planning to pursue a career in the arts is to stay hungry and passionate for what you do.  Never ask if you have created enough artwork because it will never be enough if you want to survive as an artist. Most importantly never stop making artwork and apply for everything that you possibly can.

What are your plans for the future?
  
I plan on going to Gatlinburg in the fall where I will be a part of the work-study program at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. After that I will be returning to Ohio and continue to create and sell my artwork.


Visit King's website for more details and photos of her work!

Malone Art Gallery presents Fiber Arts

Canton, OH.  August 20, 2015.  The Malone Art Gallery (MAG) will feature Fiber Arts of Ohio from August 31 – October 8 in the gallery located on the upper level of the Johnson Center for Worship and the Fine Arts, 2600 Cleveland Avenue N.W. in Canton. The Malone Arts Gallery is free and open to the public throughout regular business hours.

This exhibit will highlight alumni of Malone’s acclaimed fiber arts program, as well as the following Ohio fiber artists:

Clare Murray Adams has been involved in art production since 1980 and a professor at Malone University for 20 years. She has a BFA in fibers from Kent State University and an MFA from Vermont College in sculpture. While fibers and surface design were her early media of choice, she now includes collage, found object construction, and encaustic paint among the techniques she employs in her own art practice. She has exhibited her work regionally and nationally with awards and honors in many venues. During the past seven years she has had eight solo exhibits and a two-person exhibit in 2006 at the Canton Museum of Art with her husband, John. Her work continues to develop and grow conceptually and sculpturally, often still referencing fabric in some way. As a recently retired art professor, Murray Adams teaches encaustic and collage workshops in a variety of venues throughout the North East as well as in her home studio.

Michele Waalkes is an artist, freelance curator, and teaching artist living in Canton, OH. She received a B.A. in Art from Malone University. Her photography-based work, often transferred onto metal, fabric, wood, and canvas, has been exhibited in solo, group, and juried shows in Ohio as well as other venues across the country, and also in Italy. Waalkes has also been involved in the design and creation of several community public artwork projects. In addition, Waalkes has curated numerous exhibits in local galleries and businesses, as well as an international exhibit at the Canton Museum of Art. She works regularly in local schools as a teaching artist, using art to teach academic subjects to preschool, elementary and middle school students. Waalkes also serves as an adjunct instructor at Malone University.

Born in Bangor, Maine, Priscilla Roggenkamp has lived in Maine, Ohio, Virginia and Arkansas. She has resided in Alliance, Ohio since 1990, teaching and making art. She studied art at Kent State University (M.F.A.), University of Arkansas (M.Ed.) and Heidelberg College (B.A.). Working primarily in drawing and painting, she began creating three-dimensional work in the mid 1990’s. In 2003, she and Keith McMahon began sharing studio space, leading them to create collaborative sculptures in Akko, Israel 2005, Riverton, WY 2006, and Galion Community Hospital with Ken Arthur and Keith McMahon 2009. Her recent sabbatical exhibition, “The Threads That Bind,” was a group exhibition Priscilla curated and created work for. Priscilla has taught at The College of Wooster, Mount Union College, Canton Country Day School, Blue Ridge Community College, James Madison University and the University of Arkansas. She is currently teaching at Ashland University. She has conducted workshops in Florida, Ohio and Maine and has co-authored several publications related to art and interdisciplinary curriculum. 

Ever since earning her B.A. in Fine Art, with an emphasis in painting and fibers, from Malone University in 2009, artist Libby Bracy Doss has been an active member of the Stark County arts community, including as artistic director at First Row Centre for the Arts; as director of the Ananda Center for the Arts; and through multiple volunteer roles with the Massillon Museum of Art and History, the Canton Museum of Art, and the Ohio Arts and Crafts Guild.

Located on 96 rolling acres in Canton, Ohio, Malone University is comprised of the College of Theology, Arts, and Sciences; the School of Education and Human Development; the School of Business and Leadership; and the School of Nursing and Health Sciences.  Malone is a Christian university for the arts, sciences, and professions in the liberal arts tradition, affiliated with the Evangelical Friends Church, offering 41 majors, 42 minors, and 11 graduate programs.  Nationally, Malone University is ranked in the top four percent of colleges and universities in career outcomes, top 10 (#9) best online financial aid packages, and top 50 (#30) most affordable Christian colleges as well as top 100 (#80) in the Best Online Christian Graduate Schools Guide. Regionally, U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges 2015 ranks Malone University among the top colleges and universities in the Midwest in the category Regional Universities, and to its list of best online bachelor’s programs.  Statewide, Malone appears on the list of colleges offering the best lifetime return on investment in Ohio.  Malone University has been recognized by the prestigious Templeton Foundation as a leader in character development, as a military-friendly school by Victory Media, and as one of Northeast Ohio’s top workplaces by the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

OBERLIN ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM

Fall/Winter 2015 – Exhibitions and Public Programs

Address: 87 North Main St., Oberlin, Ohio 44074

 FIRST THURSDAYS
Galleries remain open until 8 p.m. during our monthly evening hours. A free program is presented in the King Sculpture Court, followed by a reception with light refreshments in the East Gallery. 

September 3, 5:30 p.m.
Artist Jim Dine continues his long association with the Allen Memorial Art Museum in a conversation with John G.W. Cowles Director Andria Derstine that coincides with the exhibition Body Proxy. Dine’s first solo exhibition was held at the Allen in 1965, during a residency at the invitation of Ellen Johnson. In 2005, the retrospective Jim Dine, Some Drawings originated at the AMAM.

In addition to his public talk, Dine will assist with the installation of his large assemblage, Five Chicken Wire Hearts (for James Peto), in the Ellen Johnson Gallery.

A reception on September 3 is co-sponsored by the Oberlin Business Partnership.

October 1, 5:30 p.m.
In a talk titled “How a No. 2 Pencil Designed my Life,” D’Wayne Edwards tells how he escaped a dangerous neighborhood southeast of Los Angeles to design shoes for such athletes as Michael Jordan and Derek Jeter. Edwards did work for Nike, L.A. Gear, and Skechers prior to launching a design school.

November 5, 5:30 p.m.
Photographer and guest curator Laura Larson ’88 speaks about 
Hidden Mother, the exhibition of 19th-century child portraits in which mothers were concealed while holding their offspring still during long exposure times. Larson is an associate professor of photography and integrated media at Ohio University.

December 3, 5:00 p.m.Join us for classical guitar music performed by students from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Guitarists will play music relevant to the theme or time period of the works on view in several galleries. The program is presented in collaboration with Stephen Aron, classical guitar instructor at Oberlin. Come and immerse your senses! Co-sponsored by the Oberlin College Administrative & Professional Staff Council.


EXHIBITIONS

Body Proxy: Clothing in Contemporary Art
Ellen Johnson Gallery, September 1-December 13, 2015
 As part of the AMAM’s yearlong focus on the human body, this exhibition presents works that use clothing as an art material or subject matter.
Due to their intimate associations with the body, articles of clothing function as powerful metaphors for the human condition. Clothes offer their wearers warmth and protection, while also communicating valuable information about public identity and status. Even when discarded, clothes retain poignant traces of the individuals to whom they once belonged, and become stand-ins—or proxies—for the human body. 
 This selection of sculpture and mixed media works ranges from 1960 to the present. Drawn from the amam collection as well as a number of loans, Body Proxy highlights works by 30 international artists, including Joseph Beuys, Jim Dine, Leonardo Drew, Robert Gober and Doris Salcedo.
 Psycho / Somatic: Visions ofthe Body in Contemporary East Asian Art
John N. Stern Gallery, through June 5, 2016

Artists in and from East Asia have contributed much to global contemporary art. This exhibition examines divergent ways of thinking about the body—from physical vehicle to transcendent symbol—and how our perceptions are created in large part by the culture in which we live.

In Asian thought, the body is often understood in many ways and on multiple levels simultaneously. A number of the works examine the mind-body relationship found in esoteric Buddhist traditions, and how it can reveal an individual’s larger dimensions, through visual quotations from religious imagery. Other works reference the physical body—its biology and appearance—as well as the body as a representation of identity, or the roles played by an individual in society. Many of the works may be interpreted from all of these perspectives. The exhibition also features a 15-minute video that relates the emotion of anger, as embodied by the wrathful Buddhist deity Yamantaka, with the neurophysical reactions that occur in the body.

Hidden Mother
Ripin Gallery, August 14–December 23, 2015
Early portrait photographers employed a number of devices—from pedestals to pincer-like braces—to stabilize the bodies of their subjects during long exposures. But these methods often were not suitable for the small, unruly body of a child. Instead, the photographer enlisted the mother, who, hidden by studio props, supported or soothed her offspring. Examples of this fascinating practice of the 19th century and the little-known genre of “hidden mother” photography include tintypes, cartes-de-visite, cabinet cards, and other mediums.

Transformation: Images of Childhood and Adolescence
Ripin Gallery, August 14–December 23, 2015
This exhibition features works from the amam collection that take as their subject infants, children, and adolescents. Just as significant physical and emotional changes occur over the years spanning infancy to adolescence, artists’ representations of children have shifted dramatically over the centuries, using their subjects as illustration for a variety of ideas about family, art, and society. From formal, sacred presentations of the Holy Family to intimate portraits of beloved offspring that capture innocence and its loss, these works evoke the nostalgia and deep sentiments associated with childhood and chronicle the transformation that occurs in the development toward adulthood.

The Body: Looking In and Looking Out
Ripin Gallery, August 14–December 23, 2015
Instruments of perception and discovery—lenses, mirrors, cross-sections, and vanishing points—appear throughout this selection of more than 40 works from the amam collection and on loan from the Oberlin College Library’s Special Collections department, the Science Library, and the Clarence Ward Art Library. Presented side by side, works by visual artists and philosophers of natural science offer insights into ways of knowing and representing the corporeal nature of existence. 

Ranging from old master prints to sculptural assemblages, the objects in this exhibition ask us to examine the relationship between truth and our ideas about the truth. They ask us to imagine what can be known but never accurately portrayed. And they ask us to examine the technologies and media that—in turn—look at us.

Return of the Dragon
Through June 5, 2016, South Ambulatory and King Sculpture Court
Visitors of all ages will enjoy the symbols, stories, and spectacle of dragons in a new installation of works from East Asia. Dragon-themed works in a diversity of mediums—from silk scroll paintings to carved ivory and porcelain jars—are on view. Most notably, Coiling Dragon, a large bronze that has been a perennial favorite of the AMAM’s Asian collection, has returned to the sculpture court.

Dragons appear in East Asian folk tales, mythology, and all of the region’s major religious traditions. Unlike the fire-breathing, gold-hoarding, maiden-kidnapping variety in Western mythology, in East Asia the dragon is most often a positive symbol as harbinger of rain and controller of floods and storms. In imperial China, the dragon also served as the preeminent symbol of the emperor. Return of the Dragon highlights the enduring legacy of dragon imagery and symbolism in Asian art.


F R E E   P U B L I C   P R O G R A M S

TUESDAY TEAS
Second Tuesdays at 2:30 p.m
Tea and cookies follow each talk. Topics relate to the museum’s yearlong focus on the human body.

 

September 8
Visiting Assistant Professor of Russian Polina Dimova explores the modernist fascination with synaesthesia: the mixing of sensory modalities, for example the perception of musical sounds as colors. Dimova will focus on amam works by František Kupka and Wassily Kandinsky to show how modernists blended painting, music, touch, and space.

October 13
“From Yarn to Garment” is the topic of a talk by Betsy Bruce, who teaches this popular course during the winter term at Oberlin College, which introduces many aspects of traditional weaving, culminating with a fashion show and exhibition at the Firelands Association for the Visual Arts (FAVA). 

November 10 
Want to know more about the verses of poetry now visible in the King Sculpture Court? Professor of English T.S. McMillin discusses the American Transcendentalist movement and its most prominent members, including the minister, artist, and poet Christopher Pearse Cranch (1813–1892), whose most widely known poem, “Enosis,” is reproduced on eight canvases in the clerestory of the sculpture court.

December 8
Wendy Kozol, professor of comparative American studies, speaks in conjunction with 
The Body: Looking In and Looking Out. The exhibition focuses on the human body and how we know about it, whether through a mirror, microscope or other instrument of perception, or via our philosophical ideas about corporeal existence.

COMMUNITY DAY
Saturday, October 31, noon–3 p.m., East Gallery
Art activities for the whole family will be available, and guided tours of the museum galleries will be offered. Education staff and student docents will be on hand to get you started. These programs are created especially for local families, to increase exposure to the visual arts for learners of all ages.

SUNDAY OBJECT TALKS
Talks begin at 2 p.m., King Sculpture Court
Fall semester talks begin on September 13 and run through December 6 (except October 18, October 25, and November 29). Each student-led session focuses on a work on view in the galleries and lasts about 15 minutes, followed by time for questions and answers.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT HOUSE
Open houses are now held on the first Sunday of the month only. In 2015, the house will be open from noon to 5:00 p.m. on September 6, October 4, and November 1. The house will reopen on Sunday, April 3, 2016. Presentations on the architecture and history of the Weltzheimer-Johnson House begin on the hour. Admission is $5.00 per adult. 

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Malone University Fountain Gallery will exhibit poster series by Luke Donaldson

Canton, OH.  August 10, 2015.  The Fountain Gallery at Malone University will exhibit Sacramentum: God’s Grace given to Us by Luke Donaldson, opening August 24 and on display through October 9. The Fountain Gallery is located on the Malone University campus in the Johnson Center for Worship and the Arts, located at 2600 Cleveland Ave, NW, Canton, Ohio 44709. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. through 6 p.m.

Donaldson’s poster series illustrates familiarBible passages with bold, contemporary graphics. Donaldson writes, “I try to bring scripture to life by illustrating what I perceive and by engaging the viewer with many stories from the Bible. . . . My work reproduces familiar stories in a different light.” Also exhibited are a series of posters, The Dangerous Animal Awareness Campaign, picturing real or mythical animals with often wry warnings. Donaldson, a long-time Canton resident, is pursuing a BFA in Graphic Design at the University of Akron. He also co-owns a photography business, Agape Photography, with his wife. More information about Donaldson and his work can be found at http://luke-donaldson.com.

Located on 96 rolling acres in Canton, Ohio, Malone University is comprised of the College of Theology, Arts, and Sciences; the School of Education and Human Development; the School of Business and Leadership; and the School of Nursing and Health Sciences.  Malone is a Christian university for the arts, sciences, and professions in the liberal arts tradition, affiliated with the Evangelical Friends Church, offering 41 majors, 42 minors, and 11 graduate programs.  Nationally, Malone University is ranked in the top four percent of colleges and universities in career outcomes, top 10 (#9) best online financial aid packages, and top 50 (#30) most affordable Christian colleges as well as top 100 (#80) in the Best Online Christian Graduate Schools Guide. Regionally, U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges 2015 ranks Malone University among the top colleges and universities in the Midwest in the category Regional Universities, and to its list of best online bachelor’s programs.  Statewide, Malone appears on the list of colleges offering the best lifetime return on investment in Ohio.  Malone University has been recognized by the prestigious Templeton Foundation as a leader in character development, as a military-friendly school by Victory Media, and as one of Northeast Ohio’s top workplaces by the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

MVNU’s Schnormeier Gallery to Host the Work of Georges Rouault


MOUNT VERNON, OHIO—MVNU’s Schnormeier Gallery will host the work of Georges Rouault in an exhibition entitled “Seeing Christ in the Darkness.” The exhibition will be on display from August 20 through November 6, 2015. The opening reception will take place on Friday, September 4, from 6 to 9 pm. This event and the exhibition in the gallery are free and open to the public.
Georges Rouault (1871 – 1958) is an exception among modern artists. Deeply religious, his works resist traditional depictions of Christian themes, instead emphasizing the suffering and anguish he observed in the impoverished neighborhoods of his native Paris. The graphic works displayed in this exhibition, completed at the height of his artistic abilities, reveal how deeply Rouault identified with human suffering and how he saw within this darkness a hope for salvation.
This exhibition will focus on Rouault’s work as a printmaker. It was within his graphic work that his religious vision took shape. The majority of the works in this exhibition are from his Miserere series. Begun during World War I and finished by 1927, the images were first drawn in India ink and later reproduced as engravings. The plates were refined over the course of years, being finally published in a limited edition in 1948. Also included in this exhibition are works from his Passion series, published in 1939.
For more information, visit bowdencollections.com/Rouault/rouault.html.
This show includes eighteen pieces from the Miserere series, five from Fleurs du Mal I, several colored pieces from The Passion and Fleurs du Mal III, along with two signed works and several other prints.
The Schnormeier Gallery is located at 221 S. Main Street in Mount Vernon, Ohio. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 12 to 4:30 pm and Saturday from 9 am to 2 pm. For more information, call 740-397-9000, ext. 3040.
Mount Vernon Nazarene University is a private, four-year, intentionally Christian teaching university for traditional age students, graduate students and working adults. With a 327-acre main campus in Mount Vernon, Ohio, and several convenient Graduate and Professional Studies locations throughout the state, MVNU emphasizes academic excellence, spiritual growth and service to community and church. MVNU offers an affordable education to more than 2,200 students from 29 states and 12 countries/U.S. territories.