January 13, 2011

Art faculty members part of St. Louis exhibition

by Andrea Hahn

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Faculty members from Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s School of Art and Design will represent the University in an exhibition at the Metropolitan Gallery in St. Louis.

The exhibit opens Friday, Jan. 14, with an artists’ reception 6-9 p.m., and runs through Feb. 11. SIUC faculty members Jerry Monteith and Alex Lopez are among the 10 participating artists.

The exhibit, “ART as LAB: Work in Progress,” is part of the Nu-Art Series at the gallery. The artists each transform their assigned spaces, described as “a certain amount of square footage in the gallery,” into an artistic portrayal of their working processes. The exhibit description urges the artist to create a site-specific piece that might reveal what an unexpected visitor would see, hear or smell upon arrival at the studio. The individual tableau could lend insight into the artists’ inspirations, reference materials, or working environment, or could remain quite obscure and difficult to define.

The Nu-Art Series is a not for profit corporation seeking to make the art of regional artists available, and to educate about art and the artists at the same time. The Metropolitan Gallery is at 2936 Locust St. in St. Louis, and is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Friday.