« ICCB Creates Basic Skills Test Prep Online Resource | Main | GSU Offers Safe Schools Training »
March 28, 2006
GSU to host Art-O-Mat inventor
University Park, March 28, 2006 – Governors State University will host a presentation by Clark Whittington, the inventor of the Art-O-Mat, a quirky art vending machine concept. The event will take place on Tuesday, April 4, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in Sherman Hall, at the university’s main campus located at 1 University Parkway in University Park, IL.
Art-O-Mat is the invention of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, artist Clark Whittington. Whittington began the Art-O-Mat craze when he refurbished an antique cigarette machine to vend one-of-a-kind art pieces in 1997. The concept was an immediate hit, and Whittington’s Art-O-Mat machines have subsequently been featured on CBS, in Newsweek, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and Reader’s Digest.
Governors State University has been home to an Art-O-Mat since September of 2005. Similar machines are on display in the Chicago Cultural Center, New York’s Whitney Museum, and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art.
"We're honored and excited to have Clark visit the university," said Dr. Todd Rohman, the Governors State University English professor who launched a campaign to bring Art-O-Mat to Governors State under the auspices of the university’s Graduate Council Subcommittee for Intellectual Life. "GSU's machine has been met with an overwhelmingly positive response and we're continuously selling out of many art items. His visit will give real insight into how he's resurrected pieces of Americana to make art available to the masses," added Rohman.
Whittington will present a slideshow to the public and discuss his process for rescuing these Americana artifacts. He will also be available to meet with those interested in producing some of their own pieces.
The event is free and open to the public. Call 708.534.4023 for more information.
Posted by n-battaglia at March 28, 2006 02:06 PM