The College of Wooster Art Museum to Present Three Spring Exhibitions

Works to be displayed March 25 through May 11

Bridget Murphy MIlligan's "Out of the Woods" will be one of many works on display at The College of Wooster Art Museum's Studio Art Faculty exhibition March 25 through May 11.

WOOSTER, Ohio - The College of Wooster Art Museum will present three exhibitions between March 25 and May 11. The first exhibition, which will remain on view in the Burton D. Morgan Gallery until May 11, features work by the College's studio art faculty - Kathy Gorrell Harlan, Marina Mangubi, Bridget Murphy Milligan, and Walter Zurko. In the Sussel Gallery, Doug McGlumphy will exhibit "Regular Guy Monuments" from March 25 through April 20. The opening reception for both exhibitions will take place on Wednesday, March 26 from 6-8 p.m. The third exhibition runs from April 25 through May 11, and is a group show by 11 senior studio art majors. The museum is located in the Ebert Art Center (1220 Beall Ave.).

Kathy Gorrell Harlan, adjunct professor of art, will show two charcoal drawings, and one oil-on-paper drawing. Her work balances representation with an exploration of the expressive qualities inherent in drawing mediums. "These works are a result of studying how light plays in and around form and space," she said. "I select familiar, ordinary subject matter to explore this realm of the visual experience; and on a good day, the two come together in harmony." Gorrell Harlan, who teaches a drawing course at Wooster, received her B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design and her M.F.A. from the University of Connecticut.

Marina Mangubi, associate professor of art, will present two drypoints titled "Mt. Diablo," which are part of her "Eight Board Feet" series of paintings and prints. "Not to be confused with etching, a drypoint is drawn directly into metal with a sharp needle, making it as much a drawing medium as it is a form of printmaking," she said. Last summer, Mangubi took two copper plates into the mountains of northern California and spent several days drawing "blind" by scratching almost indistinguishable marks into the copper. The image drawn into the copper can only be visualized after the plates are inked and printed back in Wooster. Mangubi is a painter and a printmaker who teaches drawing and design. She received an A.B. with a double major in art and psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.F.A. in painting from the University of Michigan School of Art and Design.

Bridget Murphy Milligan, associate professor of art, will display several pieces from her "Reality Tales" series, which is based on lessons learned from familiar stories that once fueled our imaginations as children, and perhaps continue to influence us as adults. "Thematic similarities within fairy tales often involve concepts of love, happiness, wealth, and the quest for moral fortitude," she said. "However, these stories employ notions of both the macabre and the idyllic to exemplify the complexity of human relationships and cultural strife." In her staged photographs, Milligan asks whether the relationship between reality and fairy tales is closer then one might imagine. Milligan specializes in photography, digital imaging, and painting. She earned her B.F.A. in photography and painting from Miami University and her M.F.A. in photography from Indiana University.

Walter Zurko, professor of art, will show several new wood sculptures whose form and content are derived from functional objects. According to the artist, his work is "influenced by sculptural and utilitarian objects found in the indigenous art of Africa, Micronesia, and North America; Shaker furniture and woodenware; Japanese folk craft (Mingei); and early American farm appliances and devices." His goals as an artist "are to communicate real concerns and ideas about human nature, as well as issues that inform the psychological situations in which we find ourselves embedded." Zurko teaches sculpture and ceramics. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and his M.F.A. from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

Doug McGlumphy's "Regular Guy Monuments," on view through April 20, pay tribute to the ordinary citizen. The concept for this sculpture series emerged during a trip to Washington, D.C., where he noticed many monuments dedicated to the nation's leaders, but none to the common man. "I felt that little attention is paid to the contribution of the regular guy on a daily basis," he said. "It is my intent, through this body of work, to pay tribute to the ordinary worker." His sculptures take the form of the obelisk, similar to the Washington Monument, but instead of marble he uses materials found in the architecture and daily lives of working class people. McGlumphy earned a B.A. from Washington & Jefferson College and an M.F.A. from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. In addition to his duties as museum preparator at Wooster, he is also the director of the Olin Gallery at Washington & Jefferson College and the gallery assistant at the Olin Gallery at Kenyon College.

The third exhibition will feature Wooster senior studio art majors, who will present a group exhibition of their Independent Study projects in conjunction with the inauguration of President Grant Cornwell in April. The exhibition, which will run April 25 through May 11, also celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Independent Study program at The College of Wooster.

Seniors Abigail Brown, Alanna Clark, José Esparra, Craig Heitger, Julia V. Hendrickson, Jennifer Jones, Nancy Luken, Emma Powell, Tara Severance, Kristen Sorek, and Courtney Wuensch will discuss their works on Friday, April 25, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. as part of the campus-wide "Independent Study Moveable Feast of Undergraduate Research."

The College of Wooster Art Museum is open Tuesday through Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 1-5 p.m. All receptions, lectures, exhibitions, and performances are free and open to the public. Group and class tours are also available. Additional information can be obtained by phone (330-263-2388) or online.