Westby Gallery exhibit explores Clay and the Transferred Image

Rowan University’s Westby Gallery showcases a unique approach to claywork in Clay and The Transferred Image II, the latest exhibit in the university gallery, running March 3 to April 5, 2008. In conjunction with the exhibit, a reception will be held to celebrate the exhibit Thursday, March 6, from 5 to 7 pm.

The exhibition brings together artists from across the country and features a range of claywork that incorporates or was fully created with printmaking techniques. All the artists’ narratives were created with printed images and use clay as a surface or vehicle for their ideas to be executed. These artists or clay printers are merging processes, tools and techniques to express themselves visually in a way that is unique, fresh, bold and new. According to exhibit curator and Rowan faculty member Paul Wandless, “The work created is visually dynamic, technically challenging and intellectually curious. Image transfer on clay is a new voice in the discourse of art utilizing the best of two mediums to explore a new visual and tactile aesthetic.”

The exhibiting artists include Heather Coffey and Rimas VisGirda from Illinois; Charlie Cummings, David Gamble and Tracy Gamble from Indiana; Frank James Fisher from Michigan; Douglas Gray from South Carolina; Jackie Kierans from Virginia; James Klueg from Minnesota; Naitoh Megumi from Massachusetts; Chris Rodi from Iowa; Meryl Ruth from Maine; Dryden Wells from Texas; and Ian F. Thomas and Paul Wandless from Pennsylvania.

“The work created isn’t specifically about clay or about printmaking either, but something in-between that occupies its own artistic ground,” Wandless said.

Westby Gallery is located in Westby Hall on the campus of Rowan University, Route 322 in Glassboro. Admission to the gallery is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 am to 5 pm. For more information, call 856-256-4521 or visit www.rowan.edu/westbygallery.