Contact:

John Begley, Gallery Director, Hite Art Institute (502) 852-4483 or

Claire Pope, Exhibition Assistant, Hite Art Institute, (502) 852-0288, clpope02@louisville.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Three Exhibitions in Schneider Hall Galleries:

Sam Richards: Constructed Sculpture, Part II

Rowland Ricketts: Immanent Blue Installation

Precedents: 3 Hite Scholars- Margaret Braden Merida, Carolyn Browning Weng, E. Gordon West

Schneider Hall Galleries

August 26 – September 29, 2013

Sam Richards Panel Discussion and Reception: “Sam’s Impact,” September 10, 3:00 p.m. Belknap Gallery

Panelists: former students - Scott Massey, moderator, Joe McGee, Joseph Smith, and Melinda Walters, reception to follow the discussion

Ricketts Visiting Artist Lecture and Reception: Thursday, September 19 at 3:00pm, Ekstrom Chao Auditorium, reception to follow the lecture in the Schneider Hall Galleries

Precedents Reception: Thursday, September 12 from 5:00-7:00pm in Schneider Hall Galleries

The University of Louisville Hite Art Institute is pleased to announce the opening of three separate exhibitions in the Schneider Hall Galleries.  Sam Richards: Constructed Sculpture, Part II will be on display in Belknap Gallery.  Rowland Ricketts: Immanent Blue Installation will be featured in Gallery X. Precedents: 3 Hite Scholars featuringMargaret Braden Merida, Carolyn Browning Weng, and E. Gordon Westwill be on exhibit in the Covi Gallery.

As a follow-up to the 2012 exhibition of Sam Richards’ work at the Cressman Center, the Hite Galleries presents Sam Richards: Constructed Sculpture, Part II featuring late constructed wood sculptures that embody themes and ideas that occupied him throughout his career. This climactic work demonstrates how Richards’ lasting influence as a teacher, mentor and faculty member derives from the power of his art.  Sam's gestural structures are rich in the possibilities of an intuitive and constructive process.  Sam earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Delaware, and went on to study sculpture at The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, at Tyler School of Art in Rome, Italy, and at Indiana University in Bloomington where he earned his MFA. He taught at the University of Louisville from 1975 until his death in 1994 at the age of 47. A public panel discussion will be held in Schneider Hall Galleries regarding Richard’s work September 10 at 3:00pm. Panelists will include former students - Scott Massey, moderator, Joe McGee, Joseph Smith, and Melinda Walters. A reception will follow the discussion.

Rowland Ricketts utilizes natural dyes and historical processes to create contemporary textiles that span art and design. Trained in indigo farming and dyeing in Japan, Rowland received his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2005 and is currently an Assistant Professor in Textiles at Indiana University’s Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Art.  Regarding his work Ricketts states, “I find great value in this connection indigo provides to greater human traditions of living and making. Of equal value to me is the time and energy I invest in the farming, processing, and fermenting of this dye. As a dyer I strive to transfigure all the energy of human endeavor expended on this dye so that its vitality lends its life to and lives on in the dyed cloth.”  Ricketts will present a lecture in the Ekstrom Chao Auditorium Thursday September 19 at 3:00pm.  A reception will follow the lecture in the Schneider Hall Galleries.

Curated by Dr. Dario Covi, the work of three of the first Hite Scholars will be on exhibit in the Covi Gallery.  Margaret Braden Merida graduated from University of Louisville in 1959.  She worked as an Arts and Humanities teacher for Jefferson County Public Schools for over 30 years.  Carolyn Browning Weng graduated from the University with a M.A. degree in 1958.  She served as a faculty member at Oakland City College for 13 years.  E. Gordon West has been exhibited in over 70 regional and national competitions, earning over 40 awards. Dr. Covi writes, the exhibition will feature “Hite Scholarship recipients from the first decade that the gift was established, these three artists have set the precedent of continued artistic production for more than six decades. Please join the Hite Art Institute in celebrating the creative accomplishments of these distinguished Hite Scholars.”  A reception will be held for the exhibit on Thursday, September 12 from 5:00-7:00pm in Schneider Hall Galleries. 

The exhibitions will run through Sunday, September 29, 2013.

Gallery Hours:

Schneider Hall Galleries:

Mon.Fri., 9:00am – 4:30 pm; Sat.  10:00am- 2:00 pm & Sun., 1:00-5:00 pm

All Hite Art Institute events are free and open to the public.

For information about the Hite Art Institute, visit http://louisville.edu/art/ or call (502)-852-6794.

Attachments:

(Immanent Blue.jpg) Rowland Ricketts, Immanent Blue, 2009(West.jpg) E. Gordon West, San Jose Reflected, 2013, watercolor, 28 x 20”  (Richards Surge.jpg) Sam Richards, Surge, wood, 1993