February 2014

Francis Marion University in Florence, SC, Features Exhibition by Art Faculty

Francis Marion University in Florence, SC, is presenting the Visual Arts Faculty Exhibition 2014, on view through Feb. 27, 2014.

The Department of Fine Arts invites you to the Visual Arts Faculty exhibit for 2014. Such an exhibition removes the educator from the classroom and celebrates the hands-on process of making art, reminding us that these are producing artists as well as dedicated teachers.

This exhibit presents work of eight current full time and adjunct faculty members. Faculty members regularly showcase their work in national and international exhibitions; the campus exhibit provides the university and local community an opportunity to appreciate the work of these teacher/artists.

The range of work exemplifies the styles and media unique to each artist. These artists provide a strong professional and creative arts education for students.

Lawrence P. Anderson said, “These small mixed media drawings are studies that address some past interests in composition, surface, shape, and color. My objective is to achieve an active surface texture both literally and aesthetically. The large shapes can be viewed as positive or negative in relation to all the other marks, colors and textures. The viewer can decide which it will be.”

Colleen A. Critcher is a visual artist currently fascinated by commodity culture, kitsch, and plastic things. Her current works explore the charming and whimsical objects we call the garden gnome. This most recent series, The Gnome Project, investigates what some may see as menial objects – though the work has revealed a much more powerful significance of objects in contemporary culture. Critcher seeks to dazzle audiences with her careful and often wall-sized portraits of distasteful things. She often includes herself as a character in a bizarre narrative fashion, asking more questions than she chooses to answer.

Howard J. Frye said, “The mixed media drawing Skin is an exploration of surface played against unconventional methods of creating line and variations of white. What I tried to achieve is a drawing that isn’t so much drawn in the traditional sense, but rather constructed and developed as one would create a collage. This use of this process created a surface that to me suggests a landscape or body that has been weathered by time.”

Greg G. Fry said, “The goal of this work is to communicate and to be able to build and extend my visual language. My hope is to share the attitudes, history, beliefs, dreams and desires that I have been fortunate enough to see from others and through my own personal history.

Steven F. Gately said, “As the tropical colors might indicate, the implicit subject in these three abstractions is sea and sky (undoubtedly the influence of having grown up in southeastern Florida). Although I’ve experimented with three different media (acrylic, watercolor and gouache), I’ve tried to express with each the fluidity of water and/or the natural force of the ocean.”

Douglas E. Gray said, “The current collection of work is quite varied in approach, however it does reflect my ongoing interest in surface development. Whether using clay or glazes, I am trying to create engaging surfaces that complement the forms on which they exist and that help convey the narratives from which the artwork is generated.”

Julie S. Mixon stated, “The images chosen for the faculty exhibit represent the results of photographic techniques used to alter the landscape. While the camera offers the capability to record spaces as they are, I prefer to utilize the camera, often along with post-processing techniques, to transform the landscape. What draws me to these methods is the ability of the camera (along with the photographer’s personal vision) to make a representation of a place or object in a way that the human eye cannot.”

Walter W. Sallenger said, “I have included four black and white infrared images, two made using infrared film and traditional darkroom printing on silver gelatin paper, while two were made using a digital camera altered to capture infrared light. In the case of the digital images, multiple images were combined to make extremely wide angle views, a technique made possible by the software available to handle digital images.”

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call the gallery at 843/661-1385 or visit (http://departments.fmarion.edu/finearts/gallery.htm).

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