The final exhibition of the 2004-05 season at the Denison University Art Gallery will open on Saturday (April 2) with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Earlier on Saturday (April 2) - from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., also in the Gallery - the art department will hold its annual symposium honoring the graduating seniors in both the studio art major and the art history major. Both of these events, which honor the graduating seniors, are free and open to the public. The exhibit in Burke Hall (240 West Broadway) will be open daily from 1 to 4 p.m. through Sunday, May 15, when it closes for the season.

Three senior art majors and one fine arts student will be showing their works in the Gallery this year. "While larger group exhibitions tend to offer a wider variety of media and expression, a show with a limited number of artists sets an intimate and, in some ways, more personal tone," says Gallery Director Lee Hanford.

Art history majors participating in the symposium will be Michaela Dosamantes (Chico, Calif.), Elizabeth Fusco, (Darnestown, Md.), Alice Sommer, (Westport, Mass.), and Geoffrey Young (Allen, Texas). Their project topics are: "The Parthenon Marbles: Should They Be Repatriated" by Dosamantes; "Tiny Remembrances of Women's Influence on the Artistic Evolution of Portraiture" by Fusco; "Truths Told Slant: Examining Sally Mann's Controversial Photography" by Sommer; and "Metics, Metis, Anabion: Civic Memory and the Art of the Great Panathenaic Procession" by Young.

Christy Beall (Newark), Jessie Mace (Williamsport) and Anne Raynor (Silver Lake) are visual arts majors, while Maria Minnelli (Lakewood) is an English literature major. The art majors are culminating their visual art education with a comprehensive capstone experience that concentrates on practical field matters. Beall and Raynor have focused on printmaking, primarily woodblock, screen and digital inkjet, while Mace's forte is oil painting. Minnelli works in photography.

"My latest work in art is about finding a balance between the modern idea of artistic concept and the classical emphasis on technical beauty," say Beall. "Drawing on the 18th- and 19th-century traditions of botanical printmaking and bookbinding, I am creating an edition of hand-painted botanical etchings in leather bindings." But Beall has another concept in mind as well. "Initially, each plate in the book seems to illustrate nothing more than a beautifully painted plant, however, a closer inspection reveals the mass of insects teaming over some part of each specimen." Beall hopes that viewers will think about how surface beauty and perfection can hide another reality.

Raynor has selected printmaking techniques reflecting the growth of the discipline. "Initially, I chose woodcuts for their expressive and rustic quality. The contrast of contemporary youth subjects with a very traditional printmaking technique created an interesting contrast between method and meaning," says Raynor. The works she is exhibiting are an exploration of the character and personality of the subjects based on the materials, colors, and techniques used to create the prints. "The self-portrait woodblock is printed on digital images of the women in my family who have shaped the person I have become."

"I love the way I physically put paint on the brush and then smear it onto the canvas," say Mace. "I envision the mark it will leave and almost immediately there it is. No waiting for images to develop, no demanding processes, just the brushstrokes that I put there." Mace's recent work has begun to explore female portraiture, specifically what it means to be feminine in today's society. "Through large scale portraits, I depict women doing everyday, but rather ridiculous or painful activities," she says. "The larger than life scale can make an action like curling one's eyelashes look more like some sort of medieval torture." In the series in the exhibit, Mace deals with many beauty practices from putting on lipstick to plucking eyebrows.

Minnelli is both a writer and photographer and says that she believes in the power of narrative and the ability that photographs have to trigger memories. "Because a photograph is so literal in its technical process and resulting product, people associate photography with a certain level of truth, actuality, and belief," she states. The viewer trusts that the photographer is showing him or her something real. But Minnelli can also create alternate realities. "It enables me to create a tension of meaning and interpretation between my intentions and the viewer's individual experience. In these moments, I am able to suspend disbelief and create space, time and emotion analogous to the 'real' world."

Calendar Listing:

CALENDAR LISTING: Denison University, Granville - Graduating seniors art symposium; 11 a.m., Saturday (April 2) Burke Hall Art Gallery (240 West Broadway). Free and open to the public. Call (740) 587-6596 to confirm information.

CALENDAR LISTING: Denison University, Granville - Opening reception for annual exhibit of works by senior students; 6 to 8 p.m., Saturday (April 2), Burke Hall Art Gallery (240 West Broadway). Free and open to the public. Gallery hours are 1 to 4 p.m., daily; the Gallery closes for the season on Sunday, May 15. Call (740) 587-5628 to confirm information.

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:

Name

Barbara Stambaugh

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Director, Media Relations

Primary Email

stambaughb@denison.edu

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(740) 587-8575