Marywood University to Present the Master of Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition
SCRANTON, PA (April 29, 2016)—Marywood University Art Galleries and the Department of Visual Arts will present a Master of Fine Arts exhibition of work by two graduate students. The exhibition entitled mélange features the thesis work of Annmarie E. Holler (painting) and Éva Polizzi (clay). mélange will be on display in the Mahady Gallery, on the University’s campus, with an opening reception on Saturday, May 7, 2016, from 5-7 p.m. The gallery is located on the first floor of the Shields Center for Visual Arts and will be on display until June 3, 2016. Admission is free and open to the public.
Annmarie E. Holler (Brick, N.J.)
Nature itself has already created amazing subject matters for us to study. Annmarie E. Holler received her bachelor of art in art education from Marywood University in 2013 and currently works as a residence director while completing her graduate studies. Holler’s work includes large-scale acrylic paintings on canvas or MDF board. She works in a large format so the viewer feels overwhelmed by the experience and color. Although her style and subject matter of each piece is different, all of her works have the same emphasis of line and color. A number of her paintings create an illusion for the viewer’s eyes to focus on; others are more surreal, transporting the viewer to a new place or scene. Holler feels there are so many things we take for granted on a daily basis, such as shape, shadows, and colors that surround us. While in graduate school, she has taken the time to walk around and study the world she sees every day, but never took the time to focus on. Her close-up digital photographs accompany and complement the paintings and emphasis line and color in another medium.
Éva Polizzi (Clarks Summit, Pa.)
Clay and thread create a time capsule for meditation, memories, wishes, and stories. Éva Polizzi grew up in Hungary with two grandmothers who were both skilled makers and clever savers; nothing was ever wasted on their farms. From them she learned to appreciate the many ways of reusing, repurposing, and reinventing. Polizzi’s work in clay and fibers, “stitched clay,” is rooted in this background; she is drawn to surface treatments that resemble old, torn, fraying, and darned textile bits. Referencing textile structures such as quilts, weaves, and Japanese boro, as well as inventive resist dye processes such as shibori, Polizzi’s often-organic shapes and utilitarian forms in clay are enhanced with thread and fibers. Incorporating a lexicon of embroidery stiches, combined with a sensitive eye and hand, she selects and dyes fiber materials and experiments with the right stitch as the two materials slowly evolve into its completed state. Polizzi’s contemporary stitched clay records her memories along with her joy, struggles, and dreams.
For additional information, please call Marywood University Art Galleries, at (570) 348-6211, ext. 2428, or visit www.marywood.edu/galleries, or visit Marywood Art Galleries on Facebook.