The spring semester for the three art galleries promises to be an exciting one, with exhibits ranging from prints and portraiture to painting and pottery. The galleries will also showcase student works beginning in March.

“Collecting Prints,” which opens Jan. 14, features fine art prints from the UALR Permanent Collection that have been acquired over the past 15 years. The majority of the permanent collection is made up of late 20th century and contemporary drawings, prints, paintings, sculptural objects and ceramics by professional artists and UALR students. This exhibition will be open in Gallery I through March 11. A reception will take place Jan. 25.

This exhibition is meant to celebrate art Professor Win Bruhl’s love of the diverse media found in the print studio and to honor his tenure on the eve of his retirement in June 2013. Bruhl became chair of the art department in 1998 and counts printmaking among his studio passions.

“Surface Space (Sundial Face)” features recent paintings by UALR Artist in Residence Taimur Cleary. Cleary’s work centers around connections to and perception of the landscape, with influences that  include landscape paintings, the quality of sunlight and reflected light, the seasons, meteorology, clouds, satellite imagery, memory, reading, and traveling. This exhibition will be open in Gallery II from Jan. 14  through Feb. 8. An artist talk will be held Jan. 31.

Cleary is the fourth person to hold the artist-in-residence position in representational painting within the art department at UALR. He began his residency in August 2011. He has taught at The Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio. Prior to that, he taught art as an assistant professor in Lahore, Pakistan.

In Gallery III, the “Scholarship Exhibition” will feature work by art majors who have received scholarships to study art at UALR for this academic year. This exhibition will be open from Jan. 21 through Feb. 7.

“John Harlan Norris: Occupants” will be the next exhibition in Gallery III. It features a series of portraits in which the identities of the subjects are concealed by the signifiers of the roles they assume in their daily lives. This exhibition will be open from Feb. 12 through March 21.

“We all experience moments in which the roles we play in our daily lives come to define us in powerful ways,” Norris said. “In the pursuit of prosperity, leisure, social status and personal meaning, we often assume identities that both define and fail to define us. My current body of work explores the possibilities and limitations of our daily occupations at a time in which we frequently change jobs, balance multiple roles, and cannot easily delineate between private and public life.”

In Gallery II, works by Sandy Simon and Robert Brady will be in exhibit in Gallery II beginning Feb. 23. The exhibit closes April 3.

Sandy Simon is a studio potter and was a student of Warren MacKenzie in the 1970s. She has taught and exhibited extensively and owns a ceramic gallery called Trax in Berkeley, Calif. Her work, mainly utilitarian, exudes a warmth and comfort without sacrificing sophistication and elegance.

Robert Brady began his career as an artist making pots. Pottery led to ceramic sculpture and eventually Brady began to explore other media, most notably wood. Brady moves freely between media, imparting his unique style on both wood and clay with equal facility. He uses color and bold imagery to create compelling works.

For the second half of the semester, Galleries I, II, and III will become a showcase of exclusively student work. Works submitted to the annual Student Competitive will be on display from mid-March through May in Gallery I. From April to May, Gallery II will showcase M.A. Thesis Exhibitions for graduate students in the art department. Senior students in the B.A. and B.F.A. degree in art will show their Senior Exhibitions in Gallery III from late March through early May.

Galleries I, II, and III are located in the Fine Arts Building on the main UALR campus. The galleries are open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Sunday from 2 p.m. – 5 p.m. Galleries are closed on university holidays.

For more information about the galleries and exhibits, contact Gallery Director and Curator Brad Cushman at 501.569.8977 or at becushman@ualr.edu.