Bradbury Gallery to host ���Selections: From the ASU Permanent Collection of Art,' opening March 8

Arkansas State University’s Bradbury Gallery (201 Olympic Drive, Jonesboro) will host the opening reception for “Selections: From the ASU Permanent Collection of Art,” Thursday, March 8, at 5 p.m. The exhibition runs through Wednesday, March 11. The opening reception and the exhibition are both free and open to the public. The exhibition features new acquisitions recently donated to the university, by art collectors, artists, and art foundations.

Included in the exhibition is a large print titled “Royal Flush” by Audrey Flack, a pioneer of photorealism and an internationally recognized artist. Along with the piece by Flack, twenty-three other works were donated to the collection by Susan P. and Louis K. Meisel. Several of these artworks will be shown, such as an aquatint by Charles Bell, lithographs by Ralph Goings, Paul Straiger and Stephen Posen, and a number of other paintings, photographs, and prints.

The Oded Halahmy Foundation for the Arts is a non-profit cultural organization created to fund original artistic expressions of peace in the Middle East, the United States and around the world. They have given the ASU collection three cast bronze sculptures, all produced by Halahmy, who currently lives and works in both New York City and Old Jaffa, Israel.

Ten paintings and many prints and drawings were recently attained from private collections in New York City. Four works by Hunt Slonem, an artist known for his depiction of tropical birds and exotic imagery, will be shown. Margaret Evangeline’s series of five works on paper titled, “The Life and Death of Painting,” derived from the artist’s random discovery of an alleged image of Marie du Barry, consort to King Louis XV, will be included. Two of Evangeline’s oils will also be exhibited. Paul Villinski’s horizontally oriented oil painting, “The Dowser,” given by Elizabeth Levine, will be seen as well.

Other works of art have been given to the university by several individuals interested in advancing the ASU Permanent Collection of Art. Tom Chaffee and Gayle Pendergrass, former professors in the ASU Department of Art, generously donated thirty-six works of art. This gift included several of their own watercolors along with numerous pieces they have collected over the years. Five prints from this bequest will be on display.

Bradbury Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, 2-5 p.m. on Sunday, and by appointment. For additional information, contact Les Christensen, director of the Bradbury Gallery, at (870) 972-2567, or call the Bradbury Gallery at (870) 972-3471. The Bradbury Gallery will observe ASU’s spring break and will be closed Saturday, March 17 through Monday, March 26, reopening on Tuesday, March 27.

Images, from top:Audrey Flack"Royal Flush," 1977serigraph

Oded Halahmy"Ladder in Bloom," 1997cast bronze

Hunt Slonem"Rose Cutthroats," 2004oil on canvas

Ralph Goings"Camper," 1972lithograph