University of Arizona Augmented Reality Project Takes Students to Paris

PARIS - Nov. 12, 2015 - PRLog -- The Wells International Foundation (WIF) is partnering with the Africana Studies department of the University of Arizona to bring students to Paris, France for the exhibition entitled Beauford Delaney and Paris: A Breathtaking Evolution.

This inaugural event is part of WIF’s commitment to the arts, to study abroad, and to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics). It marks the launching of multiple long-term programs to educate, enlighten, and empower students locally and abroad. The exhibition will take place from February 4-29, 2016 at Reid Hall, Columbia Global Centers | Europe (Columbia University’s Paris campus).

The University of Arizona students will complete an Augmented Reality project that will augment twenty (20) original works in the exhibition.  The augments will include video, audio and links to Web sites, viewable when the original paintings are scanned with an Augmented Reality application. This project is a student-oriented/driven one and will debut during the opening events for the exhibition.

The project is the brainchild of Dr. Bryan Carter, Associate Professor of the university’s Africana Studies department.  Dr. Carter specializes in African-American literature of the 20th century with a primary focus on the Harlem Renaissance and digital culture. His experience with virtual environments began with his dissertation project in 1997, when he created a 3D representation of a portion of Harlem, NY as it existed during the 1920s Jazz Age and Harlem Renaissance. This project, Virtual Harlem, was one of the earliest full virtual reality environments created for use in the humanities and one of the first used in an African-American literature course.

Carter has a longstanding collaboration with the University of Paris IV - Sorbonne.  In 2004, he was named Professeur Invité by the Sorbonne and asked to be the project leader for the development of Virtual Montmartre. Since then, he has received the Professeur Invité award twelve (12) times.  He has been bringing University of Arizona students to Paris since 2013.

Beauford Delaney and Paris: A Breathtaking Evolution is an exhibition of over 40 paintings and works on paper by artist Beauford Delaney, many of which have never been shown before. It represents a major step forward in strengthening Delaney’s legacy in the City of Light and, on a broader scale, in France and in Europe.

Beauford Delaney (1901-1979) was an African-American man and a universal artist.  He moved to Paris in 1953 and lived there until his death.  His paintings hang in several of the U. S.’s most prestigious museums, including the Smithsonian (Museum of American Art, Renwick Gallery, and National Portrait Gallery), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MoMA), the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago.  The French government owns Delaney works that hang in its Embassies in Costa Rica and Taiwan; France’s National Museum of Contemporary Art (Pompidou Center) and the Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts in Lausanne, Switzerland also hold Delaney paintings in their collections.

WIF is pleased that the technology of Augmented Reality will expand the reach and scope of this groundbreaking exhibition. The organization is currently accepting contributions to fund this study abroad experience.

About Wells International Foundation:

The Wells International Foundation – WIF – is a U. S. non-profit organization that provides a number of multifaceted programs, with activities and projects that target the following areas:

•    Travel abroad for students in the U. S.
•    STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) for girls and young women in the U. S.
•    Art, with a focus on the provision of opportunities for students of the visual, culinary, and performing arts to study abroad, as well as opportunities for art history scholars to study the life and work of artist Beauford Delaney and other American artists
•    Life balance / productivity for women worldwide, with an emphasis on entrepreneurs
•    Training in preclinical safety issues (pathology, toxicology, lab animal sciences and management)
•    Reading (literacy) for African-American youth, particularly at the K-grade 3 level.

WIF’s founder, Dr. Monique Y. Wells, is a 23-year resident of Paris, France.  She is a world traveler, entrepreneur, and arts enthusiast.  She is also the president of the French non-profit association Les Amis de Beauford Delaney.

To learn more about the Beauford Delaney exhibition and to make your U. S. dollar contribution to its success, visit http://wellsinternationalfoundation.org/private-donor