The Denison University art gallery will showcase two collections in its first exhibition for spring 2005. A special exhibit titledTangents: Works by Three Denison Faculty Memberswill run in the Burke Hall Art Gallery from Feb. 11 to March 11. An opening reception is scheduled for 6-8 p.m., Friday (Feb. 11) in Burke Hall (240 W. Broadway). The gallery is open daily from 1 to 4 p.m.

Throughout the spring semester (Feb. 11 to May 15), the Collection Gallery also will featureThe World of Ornament: Netsuke and Japanese Prints from the Denison University Collection. Japanese art at Denison comprises Edo period (1600-1868), late nineteenth centurynetsukeand wood-block prints.Netsukeare toggles used to secure objects on a cord worn as part of Japanese dress and are both functional and aesthetic. The wood-block prints depict the Japanese interest in scenic views and the world of pleasure in the cities. This exhibition explores the emphasis in Japanese culture upon design and looks at some of the ways in which it was used in artistic media.

Professor George Bogdanovitch and Assistant Professors Carrie Olson and Micaela de Vivero have contributed works for the faculty exhibition. Olson's installment focuses on how a society determines what is beautiful and grotesque, and how these affect personal identity. Olson uses ceramic, metal and silicone as materials to explore the dual roles technology and culture play in the evolution of the decorative object. de Vivero's work is centered on the idea of the container and how it holds the object. "My formal point of departure has been surfaces, membranes, screens and borders...and getting into places of the 'whole' through the eyes, nose, ears, taste, feeling, which invite the spectator to a very personal experience," says de Vivero.

Bogdanovitch has taught a variety of art courses at Denison since 1972. He earned a bachelor of art degree from Rutgers University and a master of fine arts in painting and drawing from the University of Iowa. Bogdanovitch's work has been featured in numerous exhibitions throughout the country, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and the central Ohio area.

Olson has been at Denison since 2004. She earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in ceramics from Massachusetts College of Art and a master of fine arts from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2001. Her exhibitions have included shows throughout Colorado and the Southwest.

de Vivero joined the Denison faculty in 2004 after serving as Professor and Fine Arts Coordinator at Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Quito, Ecuador. She earned a bachelor of arts from this institution and a master of fine arts degree from Alfred University in New York. In 2003 she completed a residency at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, Ireland. In addition, de Vivero has had solo exhibitions of her work in Anchorage, Alaska, Quito, Ecuador, and Alfred, New York as well as a number of group exhibitions.

Calendar Listing:

CALENDAR LISTING: Denison University, Granville -- The art gallery will showcase two collections featuring work by Denison faculty and Netsuke and Japanese Prints during the first exhibition for spring 2005; an opening reception will be 6-8 p.m., Friday (Feb. 11) in Burke Hall Art Gallery (240 W. Broadway). The exhibit runs until March 11. Free and open to the public. Please call (740) 587-6255

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

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