Painter Aaron Morse will present the first lecture in the Hixson-Lied Visiting Artist and Scholar Lecture Series at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 19 in Richards Hall, Room 15.

Combining painting and collage, Morse strives to make sense of the past and the present, connecting the two so as to examine the future. Morse’s zigzagging timelines explore both historical and mythical themes, from dreamlike mountain treks to space exploration. His scenes are envisioned from above or in cross-sections. The faded colors of the tangled imagery on top of crinkled terrains evoke the remnants of time passed and require the viewer to slow down in order to grasp a bigger picture.

His work is included in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Overland Park, Kansas; and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Underwritten by the Hixson-Lied Endowment with additional support from other sources, the series enriches the culture of the state by providing a way for Nebraskans to interact with luminaries in the fields of art, art history and design. Each visiting artist or scholar spends one to three days on campus to meet with classes, participate in critiques and give demonstrations.

Each lecture in the series is free and open to the public and will take place in Richards Hall, Room 15. The remaining lectures in the series this spring include:

• Susanne Meurer, assistant professor of early modern European art at the University of Western Australia in Perth, will present at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 30. She is currently a Fellow in Printing and Graphic Arts at Harvard’s Houghton Library.

• Photographer Allison Grant, will present at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 2. Grant is a Chicago-based artist, educator and curator and teaches in the Photography and Art and Art History departments at Columbia College in Chicago.

• Robert Bubp, associate professor of art and design at Wichita State University, will present at 5:30 p.m. March 2. His current projects include research into traditions and local politics of street vending in different cultures.

• Designer and entrepreneur Rob Forbes will present at 5:30 p.m. March 9. Forbes has been a ceramic artist, professor, author, publisher, photographer and business entrepreneur. He has held executive positions at numerous retail companies, but is best known as the Founder of Design Within Reach (1998) and PUBLIC Bikes (2010).

• Forensic archaeologist Caroline Sturdy Colls will present at 7:30 p.m. April 3. Colls is an associate professor of forensic archaeology and genocide investigation at Staffordshire University. She is also the research lead of the Centre of Archaeology at the same institution. She led the first forensic archaeological investigation at Treblinka extermination and labor camps in Poland.

• Graphic designer Ellen Lupton will present at 5:30 p.m. April 6. Lupton is a writer, curator, educator and designer. She is the senior curator of contemporary design at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City.

• Sculptor David Lobdell will present at 5:30 p.m. April 13. Lobdell is professor of fine art and chair of the visual and performing arts at New Mexico Highlands University. His interests are in thermal processes that include ceramics, metal-working and performance works that incorporate fire.

• Photographer Lawrence McFarland will present at 5:30 p.m. April 20. McFarland, who received his M.F.A. from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1976, is professor emeritus from the University of Texas at Austin, where he taught from 1985 until 2013. He was awarded the first William and Bettye Nowlin Endowed Professorship in Photography in 2003.

For more information on the series, contact the School of Art, Art History and Design at 402-472-5522.

Changes to the schedule may occur. Click here for updates.