The Marshall University School of Art and Design has two upcoming exhibits in October. Maximum Capacity will take place Oct. 5-23 in the Charles W. and Norma C. Carroll Gallery in the Visual Arts Center at 927 3rd Ave. in downtown Huntington. Forthcoming will be on view Oct. 5-30 in the Birke Art Gallery inside Smith Hall on Marshall’s Huntington campus.
Maximum Capacity is a follow-up to the exhibit Minimum Capacity, which was the product of adaption when student artists were suddenly faced with the cancellation of the exhibition they planned to mount in April.
Under the leadership of Sandra Reed, professor in the School of Art and Design, the grant-funded project, which was supported by the Joan C. Edwards Distinguished Professors in the Arts Endowment, involved 12 students, who worked with guest artist Craig Drennen, an Atlanta-based native of West Virginia. Drennen visited the campus in January and joined students during a trip to New York, where seven of the students met Drennen and viewed his work at the Hathaway Gallery booth at the Art on Paper Art Fair on March 6. After COVID-19 shut universities down during the spring semester, Drennen offered to display an enlarged version of the Marshall students’ exhibit Minimum Capacity, at his own project space, THE END, in Atlanta.
Participating students include Bree Black of Huntington; Sophia Celdrán of Lesage; Peyton Dolin of Huntington; Raigan Hagerman of Charleston; Zhuning Huang of Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China; Savannah Julian of Winfield; Zane Pinson of Huntington; Sa-Rai Robinette of Flatwoods, Kentucky; S. Alex Simental of Huntington; E. Wayman-Murdock of Huntington; and Jonathan Williamson of Wayne.
A virtual reception is planned for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15. Visit www.marshall.edu/art for further details.
“The works in Maximum Capacity reflect a mix of ideas and materials,” said Galleries Director Jamie Platt. “Viewers can expect to see video, ceramics, embroidery, painting, sculpture. One of the artists is actively attempting to set a new record in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest collection of origami shirts. Anyone who would like to contribute can bring their own folded-paper shirts to the Visual Arts Center prior to Oct. 5. The artist says the shirts can be made out of any type of paper and that useful tutorials for making origami shirts can be found on YouTube.”
Forthcoming is an exhibition of artwork by two new faculty members who are based in Marshall’s Art Warehouse, Allora McCullough and Matthew Smith. McCullough has been part-time faculty and is now full-time. She teaches ceramics. Smith is brand new to Marshall. He teaches sculpture.
McCullough, who has exhibited work in the Birke Art Gallery previously, will show pieces from a brand-new body of work that blurs the boundaries between ceramics and sculpture. Smith’s current body of work borrows from the language of informational signs to insert social commentary into public spaces.
The public is invited to attend a virtual reception to celebrate the exhibition at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29. The reception will feature artist talks by both McCullough and Smith and there will be an opportunity to ask questions. For more information, visit the website www.marshall.edu/art-galleries.
“Both McCullough and Smith bring creative energy and perspectives that augment and complement the team of faculty in the School of Art and Design,” Platt said. “They are dedicated professional artists who are as concerned with craft as with ideas.”