Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia Lamar Dodd School of Art Galleries present Collective Vision: The Lamar Dodd School of Art Board of Visitors Exhibition. The exhibition will be on view from Oct. 12 – Nov. 9 at Broad Street Gallery, 257 W. Broad Street, with an opening reception on Friday, Oct. 12, from 5 – 6:30 p.m. The Board of Visitors will be present at the reception.
This group exhibition offers a rare view of the work created by the board of advocates for the Lamar Dodd School of Art, nearly half of whom are practicing and exhibiting artists. Though members of the Board of Visitors are located throughout the United States and abroad, the exhibition focuses on those artists based in the Southeastern United States, and particularly on contemporary paintings, drawings, photography, sculpture and multimedia works.
The title of this exhibition, Collective Vision…, refers to the dedication and vision of the School of Art Board of Visitors in steering the Lamar Dodd School of Art in new and exciting directions. It also celebrates the achievements of the board, including the soon-to-be-completed new building for the school on the east side of the University of Georgia campus. Created in 1998, the Board of Visitors is comprised of well-known artists, alumni, gallery directors and owners, museum professionals and patrons of the arts all over the world.
Individually, Collective Vision offers the beautiful and affirming truth that many members of the Board of Visitors maintain their practice of art-making while being highly visibly advocates for the School of Art. Jack Kehoe, professor emeritus of art (sculpture) at the Lamar Dodd School of Art contributes to this exhibition his abstract Carrera marble forms, the sinuous lines of which belie their sheer mass. Atlanta artist Susan Cofer, represented by Solomon Projects, exhibits the delicate and meticulous colored pencil renderings of haunting and evocative biomorphic forms that have become familiar to Southern audiences.
A good number of the artists represented in this exhibition are graduates of the Lamar Dodd School of Art, and they continue to practice art either as their primary or secondary occupation. One such graduate, Shelly Wischhusen, chief preparator of installations at The Phillips Collection, contributes oil paintings inspired both by her continued studies with artist Susan Rothenberg and by the beauty of the natural world.
On Oct. 11, from 5:15 – 6: 30 p.m. in Visual Arts Building Room 106, four Board of Visitors members will hold a panel called “Careers in the Arts.” Sharing their insights will be Geoff Bates, director of the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park at Governors State University; Patty Brundage, gallery manager at Leo Costelli Gallery in New York for nearly twenty years; Cofer; and Wischhusen.
With the nearing completion of the new building, the Lamar Dodd School of Art Board of Visitors continues to remain optimistic about the future of the school and university and to plan for future projects and goals.
“What distinguishes this Board of Visitors is that its members are actively engaged in the arts as artists, as gallery directors and curators, and as other arts professionals. They contribute to the Lamar Dodd School of Art in ways that are cultural as well as financial,” says Kehoe.
The exhibitions and programming of Broad Street Gallery reflect the University of Georgia’s commitment to maintaining an integral role in the conservation and enhancement of the state’s and nation’s intellectual, cultural, and environmental heritage by facilitating high-quality exhibitions and dialogues. The Lamar Dodd School of Art Board of Visitors’ participation in Collective Vision lends to the school’s artistic heritage.
All Lamar Dodd School of Art Broad Street Gallery events are free and open to the public. The Broad Street Gallery is located in the Broad Street Studios Building at 257 W. Broad Street in Athens, Ga. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. For further information, please contact Nora Wendl at 706/542-0069 or nwendl@uga.edu, or visit www.art.uga.edu.