Department of Art & Design kicks off the New Year with three exhibitions

MURRAY, Ky. – The Murray State University Department of Art & Design and University Galleries are pleased to announce three exhibits displayed at the Clara M. Eagle Galleries and Mary Ed Mecoy Hall Gallery on the sixth floor of the Doyle Price Fine Arts Building on Murray State’s campus. Admission to the galleries is free and open to the public.

what used to be: work by Kate Roberts is currently on exhibit through Feb. 14 in the Mary Ed Mecoy Hall Gallery. The collection is a blending of two bodies of work, each investigating the consequences of nature, time and circumstance. The first body of work investigates the destruction caused by the forest fires that blazed across Oregon and much of the west coast in 2020, the effects of which rippled out as far as the east coast and Europe. The second half of the exhibition takes inspiration from a collection of nineteenth century landscape paintings at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, Tennessee. 

The artist Kate Roberts is a native of Greenville, South Carolina. She received both her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2010 and Master of Fine Arts in 2015 from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. She has completed residencies around the world including Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Montana, Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado and the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris. Her work has been exhibited in museums such as the Tampa Art Museum, Frick Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Everson Museum in Syracuse, New York, among other venues. She has lectured at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington and the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. She currently resides in Memphis, Tennessee and is an assistant professor of art at the University of Memphis.

Trivium will be on exhibit from Jan. 24 – Feb. 16 in the Clara M. Eagle Upper Gallery. Trivium, the Latin term for “the place where three roads meet,” features the work of three faculty members from Murray State in the Department of Art & Design. The artists are:

• Scott Cook, assistant professor of graphic design, whose work can be viewed at egscoesandbox.netlify.app

• Woody Leslie, instructor of art and design and studio technician, whose work can be viewed at woodyleslie.com

• Cintia Segovia Figueroa, assistant professor of photography and new media, whose work can be viewed at cintiasegovia.com

Meeting Of Makers, Merging of Space will be on exhibit from Jan. 24 – Feb. 22 in the Clara M. Eagle Main Gallery. This non-traditional, multidisciplinary exhibition is  curated by Alex Bridges and Rachel Beer and features works by:

• Laura Berman, whose work can be viewed at laurabermanprojects.com/art

• Nandini Chirimar, whose work can be viewed at nandinichirimar.com

• Lauren Kussro, whose work can be viewed at laurenkussro.com

• Masha Ryskin, whose work can be viewed at masharyskin.com/prints.html

• Marilee Salvator, whose work can be viewed at marileedsalvator.com/installations/unfolding

• Claire Whitehurst, whose work can be viewed at clairewhitehurst.com/work/prints

• Al Wong, whose work can be viewed at alwongart.com/works-on-paper/

• Holly Wong, whose work can be viewed at hollywongart.com

The exhibit demonstrates the importance of connection within creative communities and the generative potentials of using collaboration as a tool. By resisting the commonly romanticized trope of the isolated artist, Meeting of Makers recognizes the ways that artists can learn from each other, inspires creative connection and come together in new ways.

The University Galleries visitor hours for spring 2023 are Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. – 6 p.m., and Friday 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. For more information about the Department of Art & Design please visit murraystate.edu/art or follow them on Instagram at instagram.com/murraystateart/.