Current & Upcoming Exhibitions
All exhibitions and events are free and open to the public.
Podcasts of artist lectures are now available on Franklin & Marshall College's iTunesU http://its.fandm.edu/itunesu
The Spaces in Between-Recent Paintings 
Paintings by Laura Watt September 3-October 18, 2009, Dana Gallery
Laura Watt's paintings in oil represent the artist's study of meditation and the resultant understanding of the visual tantric tool, "yantra", used for meditation and composed of precise geometric forms. Formed in a clockwise direction, Yantra is patterned and constructed in precise manner, each element having a symbolic and structural meaning. The pattern continues inward toward the center, finalized with a gold dot. Watt describes the relationships between her work and sacred works, relying on repetition as a method to bridge the maker and the mark through meditative gesture. The patterns are simple, but describe the universe. This exhibition of paintings will open on First Friday, September 4, 2009 in the Dana Gallery of the Phillips Museum of Art on the campus of Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. There will be an artist's reception beginning at 4:30 pm on the 4th, and the artist will give a gallery talk. The gallery will be open during October's First Friday.
Image: #90302 by Laura Watt (coypright), oil on canvas 72 x 77 "
SALVAGE: Reclaiming Recycling
A National Juried Exhibition
September 3-October 18, 2009, Rothman and Sally Mather Gibson Curriculum Galleries
This exciting National Juried Exhibition is conceived and co-chaired by Nicole DeAugustine and Christine Batta, graduates (2009) of Franklin & Marshall College. Their goal was to challenge artists and The Phillips Museum to create an exhibition of works using only recycled, salvaged, found, re-used materials in an effort to convey the contribution artists and art venues make in a green conscious society. They also want to stay connected to the museum and to the college and hope that students will consider the museum a way to maintain their relationships to F & M and making art to address the issues of the day. The exhibition of selected works will be shown in the Rothman and Sally Mather Gibson Curriculum galleries. The college community has contributed to this exhibition by supplying recycled materials - paper, paint, etc. - for use in making postcards, envelopes, posters and banners publicizing and promoting the exhibition. There will be an artists'reception with awards presentation on Saturday, September 19 from 1 to 4 pm. The film "The Story of Stuff" will be screened during the reception and a video of juror, Linda Cunningham, will be shown offering her comments and juror's statement concerning the selection of artists and of the award winners. On First Friday, October 2, Professor Linda Aleci will speak on the topics of sustainability and the impact we can have in our communities and our world.
Exhibition Blog
Juror's Website
The Story of Stuff
Lancaster Online News Article
DC Museum Examiner
Salvaged Sculpture
Tedd Pettibon
Tedd Pettibon, Visiting Scholar of Art, is exhibiting several outdoor sculptures in 
conjunction with Salvage: Reclaiming Recycling. These works are made primarily from scrap metal that was salvaged from the old F&M campus boiler dismantled this summer. The works are on view outside of The Phillips Museum, as well as outside the Herman Arts building, September 19-October 29th. "My works are fabrications of found objects/material, often incorporating steel in a manor which usually animates the elements of the work. Steel has become the most highly recycled/fabricated material on the globe. I prefer to 'recycle' the metal thus incorporating the qualities recorded on the material in its previous incarnation" (Tedd Pettibon 2009).
Image: "Secours"
Salvaged Paper
Kevin Brady, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art and Art History, is showing a collage, in conjunction with Salvage, made from paper scraps reclaimed from the environment surrounding his home and around Lancaster.
"I like the deliberative processes of collage - the heightened awareness of elements in play, and surprises that
occur when unlike pieces meet and mate. Like drawing, collage is a very direct form of visualizing onto a surface. It is not just a language of accumulation - of stuff added to stuff - but a restless exchange of figure and ground. Structures come into being, and turn away from what they had been. Boundaries are fixed and erode. Identities appear and shift shape. A collage can go through hundreds of adjustments before it arrives at its final state, and even then, it is - to quote Wallace Stevens - "form gulping after formlessness." I re-worked this one over a period of two years. The destructive and constructive principles exist side by side, in the most intimate kinds of decisions. Found materials, for me, impose a discipline of responding to what is given. To some extent, one has to resist the impulse to design and control, even as this may be what is most needed. In the end, my collages are aimed at producing a symbolic, if provisional, unity."
Image: "FBRIII"
Preserving the Past
Curated by Claire Giblin, Curator of Collections
In the Curriculum Gallery Hallway are paintings from the permanent collection damaged many 
years ago. Before the museum's vaults were built, these were among items stored in a building on campus that experienced effects from a serious flood. The director of the museum at that time, Carol Faill, hurried to rescue works from the flooded area. Like Dolly Madison, she saved most of the collection from ruin. Some pieces did not escape the disaster without harm. Restorers assure us that these paintings, though not completely destroyed, are beyond repair.
They are skillfully rendered portraits painted by fine artists. The sitters hoped to gain a bit of immortality. The artists sought to make a living and hoped their work might survive long after
them. In spite of flaking paint, dark and foggy varnish, holes and crumbling frames, they are hauntingly beautiful. Not to be converted to some other use, or incorporated into a droll
assemblage, they serve the purpose for which they were intended while underscoring things like preservation, conservation, and, perhaps because they are portraits, the value of memory,
family, and, finally, the artist.
INSCAPE
Sculpture by Ted Prescott
October 24-December 11, 2009, Dana GalleryTed Prescott's sculpture consists of varied organic materials - marble, steel, wood, resin, rubber, but, the primary material is stone. The Distinguished Professor of Art at Messiah College explains:
"I first used stone on a commission completed in 1990. The owner of the stone yard where I worked....remarked to me that stone was 'seductive and that once I got involved with it I might stay involved. At the time I didn't think much of it, but ... have found stone becoming a central material interest. In the spring of 2003, I rented space in a studio in Pietrasanta, Italy and shipped two tons of marble back to work on. It is almost gone now, and I hope to get to Italy in the net year to ship more back."
There will be an artist's reception and a gallery talk by Prescott in the Dana Gallery on October 29 from 4:30 to 6:30 pm.
Image: "RIME", Ted Prescott (copyright) Carrara marble, stainless steel, slate 74 x 27 x 14"
Signs of Life
Photographs by Scott Wright .jpg)
November 6-December 11, 2009, Sally Mather Gibson Curriculum Gallery, The Phillips Museum of Art
The exhibition of large aerial photographs by Scott Wright, coincides with a retrospective exhibition of his work being shown in all galleries at the Lancaster Museum of Art from October 2 to November 22.
Wright is the Artist in Residence for F&M's Wohlsen Center for the Sustainable Environment Wright will give a gallery talk on November 12 during a reception for the artist being held in the Sally Mather Gibson Curriculum Gallery from 4:30 to 6:30 pm.
Image: "Reaching Shore" Scott Wright (copyright) 2008
Black River
Retrospective Photographs by Coreen Simpson
November 6-December 11, 2009, Rothman GalleryCoreen Simpson is a forerunner in contemporary American photography. Her works spans the years from her beginning work in the 70's through today. As a lifestyle editor in the 70's, Coreen decided that taking her own photographs of the subjects she wrote about was preferable to using stock images or photos taken by staff photographers. In short time her photographs were in demand and her professional career as a photographer began. She has been on photo assignment around the world, including covering Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Muhammad Ali, as well as contemporary music artists P. Diddy and Flava Flav. She also covered the Fashion Collections in Paris, New York, and her images have appeared in Vogue, Essence, Paris Match, the New York Times, and many other publications.
Ms. Simpson attended F. I. T. and Parsons School of Design. Her work is in the permanent collections including those of the Museum of Modern Art, The New School, Oberlin College, The Studio Museum of Harlem, International Center of Photography and Lightwork. She has received many awards and commissions including and honor from The Smithsonian Institute for her outstanding contribution in design, the Mary McLeod Bethune Award, and the Madam C. J. Walker Award.
Simpson is also a jewelry designer, and her book, "Black Cameo" will be available during the artists' reception on November 19, 2009 from 4:30 to 6:30 pm.
Image: Photograph of Coreen Simpson by Geore Mingo (used with permission)
All images-copyright of the artist.
