As part of an exhibit of ceramics that opened Sept. 18, Martha Grover, an artist from New England, has more than 200 individual pieces on display in the campus art gallery and will appear on campus Oct. 14-16.
“We have an exhibition committee that is given names of artists to be considered for a show and Martha Grover came to the committee through the listing,” Gary Goldberg, gallery director, said. “We try to get a variety of people to show in an academic year covering as many of the areas we teach and we have not had a ceramist in a while.”
Goldberg said three-dimensional work is more difficult to ship and work with.
“Sometimes we do not have enough sculpture and works in clay so this is an opportunity to show someone,” Goldberg said. “It is really beautiful work and is really well made. It has a high level of technical and aesthetic accomplishments.”
Grover will be at the university Oct. 14-16 giving workshops and lectures.
“Anybody from the university or community at large is welcome to attend the events for free,” Goldberg said.
In the foyer gallery, Melanie Rae Byars and Shannon Nicole Smith, two graduating seniors in the teacher certification art program, are displaying their pieces.
“They approached the gallery and asked if they could have a two-person show,” Goldberg said. “It is now a requirement for our graduating teacher certification students to have a group student show. However, these two students did not have to, but wanted to display their art work.”
Byars is displaying work in print making and said her inspiration came from her Native-American heritage.
“Growing up in a household that blended the traditions of our family’s Native-American past with those of the modern world has allowed my artwork a unique perspective,” Byars said in her artist’s statement posted in the gallery. “I frequently look back on the patterns, symbols and ideas I grew up seeing for my imagery.”
Smith’s work is in photography and ceramics and said her photos are a visual essay on the perpetual gendered stereotypes and over accumulation of women.
“I choose to focus on a group of exotic dancers working in an unnamed strip club in Wichita Falls,” Smith said in her artist’s statement. “These photos reveal the distasteful underbelly of exotic dance clubs and obliterate the alluring facade of glamour.”
Byars and Smith are student teaching in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
Grover along with Byars and Smith will attend the art reception on Oct. 16 from 6-8 p.m. and all items on display are available for purchase.
