The traveling exhibit “Art Across America: Artists and their Students” is making its final stop here in DeKalb in Gallery 200 of the Visual Arts Building now through Oct. 2.

Curator Moira Geoffrin, a professor at the University of Arizona, organized the exhibit which has been making its way across the country since December 1987. Geoffrin conducted a survey of artists throughout the country and selected the work of 17 artist-teachers and 17 of their students.

NIU Gallery Director Michael Flanagan said the exhibit is directed toward a university audience and examines the relationship between teacher and student work.

“The exhibit is really addressing issues confronting students and their professors,” said Flanagan. “Students want guidance but don’t want to be dominated by the faculty. That’s what this exhibit focuses on: how a teacher influences or does not influence their student.”

Two faculty members from NIU’s School of Art, Ben Mahmoud and Jack Olson, and two of their students, Marlyn Hollembeak and Sue Henning-Tansley, have work featured in the exhibit.

Olson said he felt his work and the work of his student, Henning-Tansley, were very different.

“I think her work is original. The only parallel between our work is that we both work and experiment with texture,” he said. Both Olson and Henning-Tansley have mixed media pieces on display.

Olson also said he would encourage people to view the exhibit “to get a better picture of the stylistic direction artist’s and student’s work is currently taking.”

The gallery is open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, and 1 to 4 p.m. on weekends.

The NIU School of Art funded the exhibit with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council.