Unique Spinski Exhibit Kicks Off Art + Design Season
Students may be just settling into their new courses and living quarters, but West Chester’s Department of Art + Design has already launched two on-campus exhibits to kick off the 2019-20 Arts & Entertainment Season.
First up in the Knauer Gallery is Shucks, Spinski Redux through September 27, which honors the legacy and work of the late Victor Spinski, a world-renowned ceramics artist whose art can be seen in museums across the country. Co-curated by Associate Professor of Art, Andrew Snyder, and Professor of Art, Sally Van Orden, the exhibit at West Chester University is the first stop on what will become a tour that will likely include stops in Philadelphia and Baltimore. It will also be shown at the National Council on Education for the Ceramics Arts Conference in Cincinnati in 2021.
Spinski was a full-time faculty member at the University of Delaware for many years until he retired in 2006. He died in 2013. This unique show will feature the work of Spinski’s former students and family, who were asked to reinterpret part of his unfinished work left behind. Artists include West Chester’s own John H. Baker and Sally Van Orden, Heather Coffey, Patsy Cox, Steve Erickson, Matthew Gehring, Phillip Guilfoyle, Nori Pao, Melissa Parrott Quimby, Bill Rog, Paul Andrew Wandless, and Spinski’s son, photographer Tristan Spinski, who shoots for the likes of National Geographic, among others.
Press and public are invited to an opening night reception on Thursday, September 5, from 4 – 7 p.m. The Knauer Gallery is in the Swope Music Building and Performing Arts Center, 817 S. High Street. Gallery hours are Monday – Friday from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Also now open in the John H. Baker Gallery is the WCU Faculty Exhibition through October 11. Faculty members Jeremy Holmes, Samantha Diamond, Jeremy McGirl, Sally Van Orden, Virginia DaCosta, Larry Will, Andrew Snyder, David Jones, Kate Stewart, Karen Watkins, Scotty Reifsnyder, Nancy J. Rumfield, Kate Testa, and Rhoda Kahler all exhibit.
Snyder says, “In the Art + Design Department, we use the gallery as another classroom. We are fortunate to have so many diverse faculty members who are also professional artists. We believe it’s vital to share our work with our students, and to give them the opportunity to ask us questions about our process and choices.”
Press and public are invited to an opening night reception on Thursday, September 12 from 4 – 7 p.m. The John H. Baker Gallery is in the E.O Bull Center for the Arts, 2 E. Rosedale Ave. Gallery hours are Monday – Friday from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
For information on all exhibits during the 2019-20 Season visit www.wcupa.edu/arts or https://www.wcupa.edu/arts-humanities/artDesign/exhibitionsEvents.aspx