"Revenants (a story of many lives)" and "Projected Memories" will open the 2000-2001 season of exhibitions at the Denison University Art Gallery. The exhibit opens on Friday, Sept. 1; a reception for the artists is set for 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 8. The exhibit, which is open daily from 1 to 4 p.m., continues until October 15th.

"Revenants (a story of many lives)," by Mark Hackworth and Patty Mitchell, is a collection of prints that has been traveling around the United States. It received an honorable mention at this year's Ohio State Fair and was made possible with a special projects grant from the Ohio Arts Council.

The prints served as the basis for a book that tells the stories of the people from an area outside of Dayton called "the canal district." The poems and narratives in the book, created by Deni Naffziger and Jane Ann Fuller, are based on interviews and journals dating from 1840. The book's 36 historic photographic images, 16 of which will be included in the Denison exhibit, were gathered and, in some cases, manipulated into collages by Hackworth and Mitchell from hundreds of black and white images. (The book is published by Slowmotion Press and will be available at the Gallery for $50.) Hackworth, Mitchell, Naffziger and Fuller are all Athens-based artists. Hackworth served on the Denison faculty last year teaching a print-making class.

"Projected Memories" is a multimedia installation by Claudia Esslinger, professor of art at Kenyon College. Using 16mm film and separate audio components, Esslinger creates an environment which investigates the powers of religious and familial hierarchies which continue to influence adult lives. Three black and white film vignettes are projected through long white embroidered ceremonial cloths. The embroidered surfaces of the cloth hold the maxims of the past - Submission, Devotion and Obedience. Voices fill the far corners of the gallery with personal stories of boundaries crossed and liberties taken in the name of religious and societal hierarchies.

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.

For press inquiries:

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Barbara Stambaugh

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Director, Media Relations

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(740) 587-8575