Colby-Sawyer College Hosts Alumni/Faculty Art Exhibition and Auction to Benefit New Art Center Project
NEW LONDON, N.H. - Colby-Sawyer College will host an exhibition and auction of selected works by alumni, faculty and faculty emeriti to benefit the construction of a new art center at the college. The exhibition is part of Fall Festival, a new annual event for which the college's alumni are invited to return to campus for events and activities.
The Alumni/Faculty Art Exhibition, co-sponsored by the Fine and Performing Arts Department and the Office of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving, opens on Thursday, Sept. 24, at the Marian Graves Mugar Art Gallery and will continue until Saturday, Oct. 24. An Opening Reception will be held on Friday, Oct. 2, from 5 to 7 p.m., with a Silent Auction—in which bids can be made on the show's art work—from 5 to 8 p.m. The auction will continue at the Art Gallery on Saturday, Oct. 3, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The alumni artists who have contributed selections of their work to the exhibition and auction include: Barbara Stevens Adams (pastel); Tarren Bailey (photography); Meredith Bennett (weaving/textile); Jennifer Carney (printmaking); Margaret “Peg” Cawley (photography); Judith Child Schwartz (oil on paper); Sandra Couch-Kelly (mixed media); Barbara Decker-Egbert (painting); Connie Deschenes (photography); Katie Dow (photography); Lisa Haedrich (painting); Elizabeth (Whitney) Holloway (painting); Catee Gold Hubbard (quilt hanging); Caroline Furey Kittredge (drawing); Melissa Leitch (photography); Carol Travers Lummus (etching); Mark David Macenas (mixed media); Sam Moore (graphic design); Constance Panetski (painting); Bruce J. Parsons (photography); Stephen Robinson (printmaking); Wendy Morgan Root (digital photography); Andrea Rose (mixed media sculpture); Mary Ann Link Russell (painting); Augusta Crocker Stewart (painting); Barbara Gesen Trulson (painting); Alison Lambert Vernon (painting); Elizabeth Gunter Vivsvis (painting); and Angela Cloutier Walsh (digital photography).
In addition to alumni artists, current and faculty emeriti will also exhibit selections of their work which they have donated in support of the art center project. The current faculty members whose work appears in the exhibition include the following: Loretta Barnett (painting), Nicholas Gaffney (photography), Jon Keenan (ceramics), Kristin Tupper (painting) and Bert Yarborough (painting). The former faculty whose work will be featured are John Bott (painting), Don Campbell (ceramics) and Martha Andrea (mixed media print on paper). Friend of the college and renowned artist and children's book author Tomie DePaola has also donated one of his acrylic on canvas pieces, “Pear and a Half,” to include in the exhibition and auction.
This exhibition reflects the extended Colby-Sawyer community's collective efforts to celebrate and support the arts, according to ceramic artist and Professor of Fine and Performing Arts Jon Keenan. “The exhibition promises to be a wonderful showcase for the creative accomplishments of more than 40 artists with strong connections to Colby-Sawyer College and the arts,” he says. “We are very pleased to feature some of the finest art work of our faculty and former students.”
Colby-Sawyer College is in the early stages of its major capital campaign to raise support for a new fine and performing arts center. The new center will become a premier academic building and a focal point for fine and performing arts in the region, serving the college community as well as area residents and visitors. The new center will replace the 50-year-old Sawyer Fine Arts Center and Marian Graves Mugar Art Wing and Gallery, an outdated facility that the college has outgrown.
The college plans to rebuild the fine arts section of the building in its present location and to renovate the theater. The center will feature classrooms and studios for disciplines ranging from drawing and painting, photography, sculpture and printmaking to ceramics, dance and theater, in addition to prominent exhibition and performance spaces and two large lecture halls. The theater will be equipped with a new sound system and new lighting and seating.
To learn more about the fine and performing arts at Colby-Sawyer College, visit www.colby-sawyer.edu/arts. For more information about the campaign, contact Beth Cahill, vice president for Advancement, at 526-3729 or ecahill@colby-sawyer.edu.
The Marian Graves Mugar Art Gallery hosts seven major exhibitions and related public events each academic year. The gallery is located on Seamans Road on the west side of campus in the Sawyer Fine Arts Center. Admission is free and events are open to the public. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and other times by appointment. The Mugar Gallery and Sawyer Fine Arts Center are fully handicapped accessible. For information, please call (603) 526-3000.
Colby-Sawyer College, 541 Main St., New London 03257
