Galleries to Display Collaborative Art in October

Sept. 30, 2014

Illinois Wesleyan’s Merwin and Wakeley Galleries in the Joyce G. Eichhorn Ames School of Art building will present “Tales from the Home Front” by Nikki Vahle-Schneider and Rick Schneider, and “Sentient/Avian” by Kathryn O’Grady and voiced by Peter Guttmacher.

Schneider will deliver a lecture Oct. 8 at 4 p.m. in the Ames School of Art building. “Tales from the Home Front, ” featured in the Merwin Gallery, is a collaborative project between Minnesota-based couple Vahle-Schneider and Schneider. With the combination of her woodcuts with his glass sculptures, the artists create pieces that represent the ordinary, everyday parts of life in a sentimental and ironic way. Their collaborative pieces have been displayed throughout the United States, appeared in American Craft, Glass, American Style and Neus Glas magazines, and were included in the Museum of Art and Design’s permanent collection.

 

The “Sentient/Avian” exhibition will be featured in the Wakeley Gallery. O’Grady’s paintings focus on color, nature and the complexities of the natural world as it collides with humans’ intentions. Her work has been shown in solo shows and group exhibitions throughout the country, and is included in the collections of galleries in Maryland and Texas.

 

Guttmacher first became involved in the arts through theater. He has premiered three plays in New York and was a member of the Boston Shakespeare Company. As a children’s author he has published for Scholastic Inc., Macmillan Publishers and the Children’s Television Workshop, and his photography has been shown at the Mitchell Gallery, the Maryland Federation of Art and the University of Maryland’s University College Gallery.

On Oct. 8, there will be an opening reception for both exhibits in the galleries from 5 to 6 p.m. The galleries are free and open to the public.

Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 12 to 4 p.m., Tuesday evening from 7 to 9 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. The galleries will be closed for Fall Break on Oct. 10. Extended hours for Homecoming Weekend Oct. 18 and Oct. 19 will be from 11 to 5 p.m., and a special reception for Illinois Wesleyan alumni will be held on Saturday, Oct. 18 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the galleries. 

By Danielle Kamp ’15