Several lectures are planned in conjunction with the UALR Department of Art’s fall exhibit, “Piranesi and Perspectives of Rome,” which recently opened and features etchings by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, an 18th-century Italian architectural designer and artist.

The exhibit, supported by exhibit sponsor, The Cromwell Firm, is located in Gallery I of the UALR Fine Arts Building through Oct. 5. Dr. Heather Hyde Minor will provide a guest lecture on the exhibit at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7, in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall.

On Thursday, Sept. 25, Dr. Carol C. Mattusch, Professor Emerita at George Mason University, will present a lecture, “Pompeiian Dreams: Myths and Realities about the ancient Romans,” for students enrolled in the course “Piranesi and Perspectives of Rome,” beginning at 10:50 a.m. in the Fine Arts Building.

Later that same day, Dr. Richard S. Mason, a lecturer at the University of Maryland- Baltimore County, will deliver a presentation on “Reliving the Ancient World: Rediscovering Herculaneum and Pompeii,” at 6 p.m. in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall.

Prinesi’s background and techniques
Piranesi, like Rembrandt, was a master printmaker, leading him to produce multiple prints of the same image. He drew through a beeswax ground on metal plates with a sharpened scribe. The plates were then placed into an acid bath. A chemical reaction with the exposed metal etched his line drawing into the plates. Ink was wiped into these lines and a damp paper was placed over the plate before running it through a press.

Piranesi would constantly scrutinize his images and rework his plates – adding architectural forms and details and enhancing the dramatic lighting effects until he was satisfied with the compositions.

The popularity of Piranesi’s imagery resulted in the multiple printings of his etched plates, many after his death. The date and place of the printing of the folio were established by the embossment on the paper, “Regia Calgografia,” which indicate the prints were pulled in the Vatican between 1870 and 1946, more than 100 years after the plates were made in Rome.

The importance of Roman architecture and its legacy runs throughout the collection. This fall, Dr. Jane Brown and Dr. Floyd Martin are co-teaching a course that considers Piranesi and the importance of Rome in the history of art.

The majority of the Piranesi prints in the exhibit come from the Thompson/Cromwell Folio, discovered by Little Rock architect Edwin Cromwell around 1960 at the home of his father-in-law Charles Thompson, also an architect. The daughters of Edwin Cromwell, on behalf of the Thompson and Cromwell families, donated the folio of prints to the UALR permanent collection.

Other Piranesi etchings are on loan from the Arkansas Arts Center and local private collections.

The dynamic compositions reveal Piranesi’s study of engineering and architecture and the influence of his father, a stonemason. The dramatic use of lighting in these etchings also points to the artist’s training as a set designer in Venice.

In 2003, Olga Elwood completed her master’s thesis on the Thompson/Cromwell folio. Her research has been a valuable resource for understanding the prints.

The fall gallery schedule is 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 to 5 p.m. Sundays. The galleries are closed on university holidays.

For more information, contact UALR Gallery Director and Curator Brad Cushman at becushman@ualr.edu or 501.569.8977.

Other gallery exhibits
In Gallery II through Sept. 28, the multi-media installation, “Teaching A Canary to Sing,” by Catherine Siri Nugent, is planned.

The installation, begun in 2010 and completed in 2014, includes collage, found objects, sound, drawing and stitching to convey an autobiographical metaphor that represents personal, spiritual and artistic growth.

Nugent is a visual artist currently working with mixed media and conceptual art. She is a former adjunct instructor in studio art at UALR, where she received her Master of Arts in drawing and sculpture in 2000.

Nugent’s mixed media and installation work has been seen in group and invitational shows. These include the 2006 annual juried “Regional Delta Exhibition” at the Arkansas Arts Center where her mixed media installation, “Reach,” won honorable mentioned. In addition, she has designed costumes and set for choreographer Stephanie Nugent. Performances were held in Los Angeles, New York and Padua, Italy.

Nugent’s work has been reviewed in Fiber Arts magazine, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and the Arkansas Times in which the installation “Morning Paper, Mourning Prayer” was described as “stealing the show.”

In 2004, Nugent received an Individual Artist’s Fellowship Award from the Arkansas Arts Council.

In Gallery III through Sept. 26, “Small Works on Paper” will feature drawing, mixed media, photography and printmaking by Arkansas artists who each year submit work for review. The juror/curator selects the exhibition, which then tours the state. This year’s juror/curator is Mary Kennedy, CEO of Mid-America Arts Alliance. The exhibit sponsor is the Arkansas Artist Registry, a program of the Arkansas Arts Council, which is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.