HS art students welcome Ukrainian art historian

High School students enrolled in The Art of War, an art history class taught by Andy King, enjoyed hearing from Vlad Ozerov via Zoom during their class on Tuesday, March 7. Ozerov is an art curator and historian living in Ukraine. 

During his virtual visit with students, Ozerov shared his life experience in Ukraine before and after the 2022 Russian invasion. After the invasion, Ozerov contacted visual artists across Ukraine to share their artwork relating to the war. This collection of artists became the artist creative group, Artenzioni. As they amassed a body of work, Ozerov reached out to universities globally to see if there were institutions interested in exhibiting this work. 

Katie Mitchell, Director of Galleries & Programming, at Watkins College of Art at Belmont University, accepted the invitation, and subsequently, Artenzioni's work was displayed at Watkin's satellite gallery in The Packing Plant. Upon seeing the exhibit, King reached out to Mitchell to inquire about bringing the show to USN's Tibbott Gallery. Mitchell connected King to Ozerov, which led to the virtual conversations with students. 

Ozerov shared not only his experience but also the inspiration behind the Artenzioni project and the art itself. Additionally, he answered questions the students prepared beforehand. Notably, he detailed the importance of the universality of art and its ability to impact viewers from all walks of life. For a glimpse at Ozerov's time with students, view the video here. 

Paired with this meeting, the Art of War students are curating the body of Artenzioni's work to exhibit in the Tibbott Gallery. The exhibit will run from Wednesday, March 22 through Friday, April 28. There will be a reception for the student curators as well as the exhibit on Wednesday, March 22 at 3:30 p.m. with food provided.