Exhibitions
COMMON THREADS: 2017 SENIOR ART MAJOR EXHIBITION
University Art Gallery (The University of the South) / 68 Georgia Ave., Sewanee, TN April 21, 2017 - May 13, 2017
The University Art Gallery proudly presents Common Threads, an exhibition of work by the University of the South’s graduating senior art majors: Elizabeth Bleynat, Catherine Estes, Douglas Fout, Mary Margaret Johnson, Mary Perez, and MaryBeth Yancey. Common Threads will open April 21 at 4:30 with a reception and brief remarks. The artists will present their work formally on April 28, beginning at 9 a.m., in Convocation Hall.
With works created in diverse media, including analog and digital photography, painting, and traditional fabric craft, Common Threads pursues understanding of difference and the reconciliation of conflicting ideas and spheres. Douglas Fout’s photographs explore modern humanity’s difficult connection to an inaccessible natural world, using contrasting motifs of timelessness and modern technology to characterize this relationship. Repurposing inherited materials with quilting and decorative stitching, Elizabeth Bleynat’s textile pieces explore familial changes in the wake of loss. Catherine Estes uses playful combinations of symbolic shapes and colors in her paintings to interpret the emotions, memories, and dreams she associates with both physical and metaphorical places. MaryBeth Yancey’s paintings evoke the study of natural history. Gathering and recording details, Yancey uses her paintings to understand “inputs” from both the world and her own internal landscape. Mary Perez’s photographs and performance-generated materials focus on the Latinx experience in the United States, challenging stereotypical narratives surrounding immigration and exploring the diversity of experiences in America. Mary Margaret Johnson’s portraits convey intimate relationships with people from all over the world. Using platinum palladium printing, she explores the difficult process of being intentionally vulnerable with others in order to reach a place of intimacy.
image: Untitled, courtesy of Elizabeth Bleynat
