SUArt Galleries mounts ‘Facing Forward’ and ‘Challenges in Contemporary Art’

SUArt Galleries mounts ‘Facing Forward’ and ‘Challenges in Contemporary Art’October 16, 2006David L. Princedlprince@syr.edu

The SUArt Galleries has mounted two new exhibitions on view at the Shaffer Art Building. “Facing Forward” was designed and installed by graduate students in the Museum Studies Program in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA). “Challenges in Contemporary Art” consists of artwork created by faculty members in VPA’s School of Art and Design. Both are free and open to the public.

“Facing Forward”Oct. 19-Nov. 2The student-designed and -installed “Facing Forward” focuses on media and technique, displaying various paintings and sculptures. Graduate students in the Museum Studies Program’s Practicum I class developed the exhibition’s design — including labels, text panels, organization and public relations. Students worked in teams to tackle each of these aspects.The main goal of “Facing Forward” is learning. Students learned how to work together as they performed different steps required to plan and install the exhibition. Their work will also be used as an aid in teaching studio art classes. Students in studio art classes will visit the gallery and study the art on display, gaining a better knowledge of art techniques from first-hand resources. “Challenges in Contemporary Art”Oct. 23-Dec. 3More than 40 faculty members from VPA’s School of Art and Design have work on display in this annual exhibition highlighting new work by faculty visual artists. A free, public reception for the show will be held, Thursday, Nov. 16, at 5 p.m. This year, for the first time, the exhibition has been organized on the theme of challenges chosen, faced, discovered and resolved by this diverse group of image and object makers. The show brings together a broad diversity of media, technique and inspiration. The range of objects on display and their breadth and depth of intellectual and emotional content will surprise visitors. Such traditional themes as portraiture, landscape and still life can be seen next to more experimental genres such as interactive installations and time-based arts. Making this exhibition especially interesting are the visual comparisons between artists working in the same subject area. Several are intrigued by landscape, but their inspiration springs from sources as different as gardening, the subtle yet real transitions that occur in a landscape and discovering visually interesting fragments of urban settings. Others found life experiences to inspire them: One used her career as a pediatric nurse to shape her imagery, while another portrays the music of jazz trumpeter Miles Davis through abstract drawings, and a third used his family as subjects in a series of photographs that document their travails. The SUArt Galleries is located in the Shaffer Art Building and is universally accessible. Exhibitions are open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday through Sunday from 11a.m.-4:30 p.m., and Thursday from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. The gallery space is closed on Monday and during major religious and national holidays. Paid parking for exhibitions is available in the Comstock Avenue lot. For more information, call 443-4097 or visit http://suart.syr.edu.