Staniar Gallery Interns Mount Art Exhibit in Leyburn Library With Opening Reception
An opening reception on April 6 at 5 p.m. will celebrate a new exhibit of prints on display on the first floor of Leyburn Library on the campus of Washington and Lee University from April 1 to June 8.
“Echoing Gestures: Figural and Abstract” will primarily feature prints along with several mixed media works from Washington and Lee’s University Art Collection. Kept primarily in storage facilities until now, the images in the exhibit offer a unique introduction to art owned by the University.
The exhibit examines the relationship between two seemingly divergent modes of representation-the figural and the abstract. Through similarities in line, color and treatment of space, the exhibit demonstrates that abstraction ultimately compliments realism while the figural catalyzes viewer interpretation of abstracted forms. Thus, the figural and abstract worlds unite through their echoing gestures.
The remodeling of Leyburn’s first floor has provided the campus with both the occasion and the space to mount “Echoing Gestures: Figural and Abstract.” The exhibit seeks to encourage viewers to recognize the interrelationships between seemingly contradictory entities. By pairing works that demonstrate this phenomenon, the curators hope to convey the possibility of co-existence in an increasingly fractured world, evidence of which subsists even within the building of the exhibit’s location.
The exhibition is curated by W&L seniors and Staniar Gallery Arts Management interns Saya Clancy, Catherine Hook, Mallory Ruymann and Libby Spears. The project was guided by Clover Archer Lyle, visiting instructor of photography and director of the Staniar Gallery, and Patricia Hobbs, associate director and curator of the University Collections of Art and History.
Leyburn Library hours are Monday through Sunday 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. For further information about the exhibit, please contact Clover Archer at archerc@wlu.edu.
