Staniar Gallery Kicks off 2011-12 Season with Two-Person Exhibit
Washington and Lee University’s Staniar Gallery will open the academic year with “Abandon,” a two-person exhibition featuring prints by Barbara Duval and a film installation by Meredith Root. The exhibit will be on view from Sept. 6 through Oct. 6.
Barbara Duval will present a public lecture in Wilson Hall’s Concert Hall on Wednesday, Sept. 14, at 5:30 p.m. followed by an opening reception in the adjacent atrium. Meredith Root will present her artist’s talk on Monday, Oct. 3, at 4:30 p.m. in Wilson Hall, room 2018.
Both Duval and Root capture a mysterious beauty in their work, set against the background of unnamed desolation. Duval’s paintings and prints are filled with shadow-shaped figures, often depicted in motion and inhabiting a landscape that is eerily empty and dark. Root’s short film is a visual document of a dilapidated building in Milwaukee, Wis., which was left as an institutional dumping ground after serving various manufacturers as a factory site for over 85 years.
Barbara Duval received her M.F.A. from Yale University in 1982 and has since been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions. Her work can be found in the collections of the Yale University Art Gallery; Contemporary Art and Culture Center, Osaka, Japan; and Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass., among others. She is a professor of studio art at the College of Charleston, S.C.
Meredith Root’s animated films have been shown nationally in festivals and curated shows at such venues as The Slamdance Festival, Women in the Director’s Chair, The Knitting Factory and the Pacific Film Archives. Her work has also been screened at festivals in Spain, the Czech Republic, Turkey, and most recently, at The Director’s Lounge in Berlin. Root holds her M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. She is an assistant professor at the Memphis College of Art.
Staniar Gallery is located on the second floor of Wilson Hall, in Washington and Lee University’s Lenfest Center for the Arts. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, please call 540-458-8861.
