Annual UF art exhibition features works by studio faculty members

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The Gainesville Sun
Science

September 5, 2013

By Bill Dean
Entertainment Editor

Fall is in the time when thoughts of orange and blue take on added pertinence at the University of Florida. But virtually every color of the spectrum gets its due in another fall tradition full of significance at UF’s School of Art + Art History: the annual art exhibition featuring works by studio faculty members of the school.

The school’s 48th Annual Studio Faculty Exhibition — and two Viva Florida shows tied to the state’s quincentennial celebration in the nearby Focus and Grinter galleries — get opening receptions in a combined event planned Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the University Gallery.

As the School of Art and Art History prepares for next year’s 50th anniversary celebration of the University Gallery (when the faculty exhibition will be held at the Harn Museum of Art), University Galleries Directory Amy Vigilante couldn’t be more pleased with the precursor exhibition that runs through Sept. 27 at the University Gallery.

The exhibition features recent works by 24 faculty members, ranging from Amy Freeman’s oil-on-panel works, “Shoo Fly” and “True Lovers Knot,” to Lisa Iglesias’ graphite-on-paper works, “Ghost of a Season” and “Two Fists of Solid Rock,” and Ron Janowich’s two untitled oil-on-linen pieces.

“The faculty show, which I just finished hanging, opened Tuesday, and it’s great,” Vigilante says.

“It’s really beautiful and tasteful, and more calm than usual. The look of all the galleries in New York now is very minimal and simple, and that’s how the show came out, so I really like it.”

Friday’s reception also serves as the opening reception for “FLOR500” at the Focus Gallery and the “Seeds of Discovery” exhibition in the Grinter Gallery.

The former, a participatory project created by Xavier Cortada, artist-in-residence and director of the art department at Florida International University, commemorates 10 of the 500 indigenous wildflowers identified as being in the state when Ponce de Leon landed in Florida in 1513 with a variety of artworks.

Cortada will speak at 4 p.m. Friday in UF’s Fine Arts Building B, with a seed-planting ceremony planned to follow at 5 p.m. in the Fine Arts Courtyard. “We’re going to make a tribulatory garden from all the people who attend the lecture and plant this little garden,” Vigilante says about the latter event.

In the Grinter Gallery, the “Seeds of Discovery” exhibition highlights the botanical art history of Florida in an exhibit that opens Friday and will continue through Oct. 29.

“In Grinter Gallery, we borrowed from the Florida Museum of Natural History real botanicals; not botanical drawings, but actual plants,” Vigilante says. “So that’s a sweet little show.”

Beyond Friday’s reception, the Studio Faculty Exhibition can be seen through in the University Gallery from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday (with hours adjusted for home football games) through Sept. 27.

“FLOR500” can be seen from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday through Sept. 27 in the Focus Gallery, which is in the main lobby of Fine Arts Building C. And “Seeds of Discovery” can be seen from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Oct. 29 in the Grinter Gallery, which is in the main lobby of Grinter Hall, next to the University Auditorium.

Contact Entertainment Editor Bill Dean at 374-5039 or at bill.dean@gvillesun.com, and follow on Twitter @SceneBillDean.

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