Two Exhibitions open Nov. 8 at UNL's Eisentrager-Howard Gallery

Victoria Hoyt, “Entering the elephant,” 72” x 58”, acrylic, gouache, watercolor and ink on paper, 2013, and  Emma Nishimura, “Vestige:  Navigating the Layers,” detail,  paper garments, installation view, 2011.
Victoria Hoyt, “Entering the elephant,” 72” x 58”, acrylic, gouache, watercolor and ink on paper, 2013, and Emma Nishimura, “Vestige: Navigating the Layers,” detail, paper garments, installation view, 2011.

Two Exhibitions open Nov. 8 at UNL's Eisentrager-Howard Gallery

calendar icon08 Nov 2013    

Two exhibitions open Nov. 8 and continue through Nov. 22 at the Department of Art and Art History’s Eisentrager-Howard Gallery in Richards Hall. The exhibitions will have an opening reception on Friday, Nov. 8 from 5-7 p.m. in the gallery.
 
Both exhibitions were organized by Assistant Professor of Practice Marissa Vigneault’s students from her The Body in Modern and Contemporary Art class.
 
“A Body Responds to a Body” includes work by current UNL Master of Fine Arts students created in response to paintings from the Sheldon Museum of Art’s permanent collection that are currently on view in the museum.
 
The artists, working in a variety of media including painting, ceramics, photography and printmaking, each chose one work from the Sheldon to engage with; current UNL Master of Arts students in Art History and English wrote accompanying text elaborating on the connections between the pieces.
 
The artists responded to such iconic paintings as Edward Hopper's Room in New York (1932) and Mark Rothko's Yellow Band (1956). The exhibit includes work by M.F.A. students Avi Arenfeld, Amanda Breitbach, Patricia Davis, Meryl Engler, Keith Graham, Chadric Harms, Allen Morris, Liana Owad, Erin Schoenbeck, Adrienne Smart, Kelly Stading, Hiromi Stephens, Joyce Taylor, and Gabe Valdez; M.A. student Alexandra Alberda; and writing by M.A. students Sade' Ayorinde, Britiany Dougherty, Eric Himmelberger, Edwardo Rios and Paula Rotschafer.
 
The second exhibition, “The (multi) Pliable Body,” features recent and new work by UNL Master of Fine Arts alumnae Victoria Hoyt, Emma Nishimura and Ying Zhu.
 
Each artist, while vastly different in their approach, is united through reference to the pliable nature of the body, both physically and psychologically.
 
Hoyt employs acrylic, gouache, watercolor and ink in the creation of her large paintings on paper, which suggest the subversive and transformative efforts of the body. Nishimura's installation Vestige includes thirteen diaphanous paper garments suspended from the ceiling, echoing the forms of bodies that were once there and now can't quite be remembered. Zhu’s Sad People Dance Too incorporates fabric, thread and a mirror, inviting the viewer to move their body around the piece while catching a glimpse of their own fragmented self in reflective surface. The exhibition includes essays on the work by UNL M.A. Art History students Jeri Dobos, Jacqueline Spackman and Archana Verma.
 
The Eisentrager-Howard Gallery is located on the first floor of Richards Hall, which is located at Stadium Drive and T sts. on the UNL city campus. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 12:30-4:30 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.
 
For more information, contact the Department of Art and Art History at (402) 472-5522.