March 17th - April 10th, 2008
Reception March 28th, 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Dear Friends of the Honors College:

It is my great privilege to welcome you to the Third Annual Aesthetics and Values Art Exhibition, designed, mounted, and curated solely by third-year students in the Honors College. The exhibition represents the final project of a year's study and research into the ways that art formulates and advances social discourse. It is therefore intentionally confrontational, meant not only to present artistic contributions to public discourse but to provoke yet further reflection and conversation.

To that end, the students have assembled the works of outstanding South Florida artists whose oeuvre spans a wide variety of media, subject matter, and styles. Like the art they have presented, the students-few of whom had any advanced prior knowledge of art-are broadly diverse, hailing from many different cultures and studying a variety of majors in the professions and liberal arts. What unites them is what unites the artists they have chosen to exhibit: a passion for expressive intensity, a drive to explore the "big questions," a compulsion to participate in the life of the mind.

Under the inspired leadership of Professor John Bailly, the class has studied the work of the artists and selected the pieces on exhibit, secured sponsorship for program costs, designed the promotional campaign, written the catalog, and carefully curated the mounting of the artwork. In doing so, they have learned not only about art, but about the sources and execution of authority and the ways in which art mediates thought and action, and have acquired practical skills relevant to business, advertising, and museums.

This year's exhibition is another display of the quality, dedication, initiative, and creativity of our FIU Honors students and teachers. I am personally extremely proud of their work and invite you to share in that appreciation.

Lesley A. Northup
Interim Dean