The UALR Department of Art has updated its spring schedule in three art galleries, located in the Fine Arts Building on the main campus.

The upcoming exhibitions, which are free and open to the public, include the annual Student Competitive in Gallery I, works by David Bailin in Gallery II, and the Senior Exhibition in Gallery III.

The Student Competitive runs from April 1 to May 5, featuring work created by students who are taking studio art and design classes in the art department.

For the competition, students entered up to four works for review by juror John Harlan Norris, Arkansas State University assistant professor of art. Norris recently visited campus to curate the exhibition.

Norris said the theme of “transformation” began to emerge early in the jurying process, even though many of the entries were initially based on specific assignments.

“I was drawn to instances in which these parameters were stretched or interpreted from another angle: A still life morphing into a staged narrative, a collection of leaves coalescing into the form of a head, and so on,” he said.

“Likewise, I sensed a strong thread of transformation in more independently developed works, with examples including man-made objects taking on biomorphic forms or a portrait opening up into an investigation of physiognomy and identity.”

Norris said that, ultimately, many works expressed a deep commitment to craft and quality which also spoke to the theme of metamorphosis.

“They offered that always satisfying sense of awe that occurs when clay, wood, ink or pigment convincingly transform into something other than themselves,” Norris said.

Originally from Kentucky, Norris majored in studio art and English at Centre College in Danville, Ky., and received his Master of Fine Arts degree in painting at Louisiana State University.

A reception will be held at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, April 1, where awards, including the Friends of the Arts Award and Wilma & Jack Diner Award, will be announced.

Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, and 2 to 5 p.m. Sundays.

For more information on the Student Competitive or other exhibits listed below, contact UALR Gallery Director and Curator Brad Cushman at becushman@ualr.edu or 501.569.8977 .

Additional upcoming exhibitions
Other exhibitions this spring include “Revision, Missing, Listen, Light, Fly: Drawings by David Bailin” in Gallery II from April 5 to May 30. An artist lecture will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 17, in Room 161 of the Fine Arts Building.

A joint reception will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 15.

The large-scale narrative works in the series of drawings are executed on a heavyweight-prepared paper in charcoal,
 pastel, oil, and even coffee.

In each of the five drawings on display, a male figure is isolated in an office space. The imagery was inspired by the years Bailin supported himself as a part-time, full-charge bookkeeper in New York City.

Bailin is an adjunct professor at UALR. He has a Master of Arts degree from Hunter College in New York City 
and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the University of Boulder in Boulder, Colo. Bailin is represented by Koplin Del Rio Gallery in Los Angeles.

Senior exhibitions will be on display throughout the semester in Gallery III.

• Group Exhibit One includes the work of the following students from April 2 to 9: Daniel Ramsey, Bachelor of Arts in Art; Mandy Schrader, Bachelor of Arts in Art; Ashley Barker, Bachelor of Arts in Drawing; Lisa Kent, Bachelor of Arts in Illustration; Megan Roberts, Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design/Photo; and Charles Cameron Tedder, Bachelor of Arts in Art.

• Group Exhibit Two includes the work of the following students from April 12 to 20: Catherine McGibbony, Bachelor of Arts in Art; Gary Tripp, Bachelor of Arts in Illustration; William Ehrle, Bachelor of Arts in Applied Design; Kendalyn McKisick, Bachelor of Arts in Sculpture; Carlo Alarcon, Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design; Elizabeth Hartzell, Bachelor of Arts in Painting; and Nancy McGuire, Bachelor of Arts in Painting.

• The Bachelor of Fine Arts Thesis Project Exhibition will be held April 25 to May 2 and will feature the work of Jennifer Perren, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking, Gaylan Lewallen, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Applied Design/Furniture, and Margaret Ann Smith, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design.

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