GRANVILLE - The Denison University Art Gallery presents two concurrent art shows, "Humanity Entwined" and "Environments Contained," opening with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday (Nov. 1) in the Burke Hall Gallery (236 W. Broadway). "Humanity Entwined" features the work of guest artists and sculptors John Wood and Duane Paxson while "Environments Contained" features the work of guest painter Steven Bigler along with Denison faculty members Alexandra Hibbit and Alexander Mouton. The gallery will be open to the public daily from 1 to 4 p.m. without charge and the shows run through Sunday, Dec. 15. The gallery will be closed for Thanksgiving break from Friday, Nov. 22, through Sunday, Dec. 1.

Duane Paxson, 'Creation'

An art teacher in Detroit, Wood has received numerous awards including the Educator's Achievement Award for Outstanding and Dedicated Service given by the Booker T. Washington Business Association. Recently, Wood's work was exhibited in the Michigan Artists Competition in 2001 and the Detroit Art Teachers Association Annual Exhibition in 2000. His work features vessels and containers intended to be metaphors for human experiences and needs. His sculptures are multicolored with a variety of textures and forms and are cast in lead, pewter, aluminum and bronze.

Originally a painter, Paxson developed as a sculptor throughout his graduate studies at the University of Alabama. His work was recently exhibited at the Huntsville Museum of Art as well as the Ford Gallery at Eastern Michigan University. Paxson centers his works on unusually shaped pieces of wood fused with textured resin while incorporating acrylic paint, as well as fragments of ceramic, steel and fiberglass. He seeks to strike a balance between mastering material and allowing it to retain its essential natural spirit.

Bigler's travels to the Marche region of Italy have influenced his landscapes, still-lifes and figure paintings. He frequently explores Renaissance compositional devices, such as the Golden Section, often to determine the dimensions of the painting itself or the division between the earth and sky. Bigler's work has been exhibited at the Contemporary Realist Gallery in San Francisco, Calif. His wife, Ann Paulk, is an assistant professor of art at Denison.

A first-year art department faculty member, Hibbit has teaching experience throughout the United States and abroad. Originally from London, Hibbit studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy of Art and Design in Amsterdam where she earned a Higher Diploma in Ceramics. She has since been a visiting artist at Michigan State University and The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, Pa. Her work deals with the themes of memory and nostalgia especially in relation to place and belonging. Her work often features iconographic landscapes as she examines the borders between icon and image, perception and contemplation as well as between object and installation.

Assistant professor Mouton, also a first-year Denison faculty member, has previously served as a visiting assistant professor at Indiana University. He specializes in photography and digital multimedia and was named an American Photography Institute National Graduate Seminar Fellow in 2001. His work has appeared in numerous books includingThe Vanishing Hour, SleepandThe Noise of Timeand has been exhibited at the SoFA Gallery in Bloomington, Ind. and the Galerie Trapez in Potsdam, Germany.

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