Talking 'bout art

Wednesday, Sept. 18 — Today, the Department of Art, Art History and Design at Michigan hosts two guest lectures and another tomorrow. This is the first week of the guest lecture series for the 2013-‘14 schedule. All lectures are free and open to the public.

At 6 p.m. tonight, Monika Bakke will present a lecture called “Counting (on) Dust: Around the globe with mineral particles & microbial hitchhikers.” Bakke will speak in Room 402 of the Computer Center, next to the Hannah Administration Building. She is the author of two books and an associate professor in the philosophy department at the Adam Mikiewicz University in Poland. Bakke focuses her work on contemporary issues of post-humanism, gender and cross-cultural perspectives.

Also speaking tonight is Lisa Walcott, a Michigan artist with an exhibit in the Eli and Edythe Broad Museum. The kinetic sculpture artist will give a guest lecture at 7 p.m. in the museum. During that time, she will discuss her ideas and concepts behind her art with Broad’s director of education, Aimee Shapiro. Walcott is the first artist to participate in the Artist Studio Series at the museum.

Then, at 7 p.m. Thursday, Los Angeles-based artist Mark Dean Veca will speak in Room 105 at South Kedzie Hall. Veca creates trippy, large-scale installations with extreme detail and many references to pop culture. Using charcoal, ink or paint, he creates landscapes and cartoon-style scenes. Veca has been exhibiting since 1997, and his piece, “Year of the Snake,” is one of the entires in thise year’s ArtPrize in Grand Rapids.