Richard Elliott and recent acquisitions of art on display

The WSU Museum of Art will open the 2004 summer exhibit “Richard Elliott and Recent Acquisitions” at noon May 23 and display it through July 25. A strawberry shortcake reception will begin at 2 p.m. opening day.

Summer hours at the museum, located on Wilson Road across from Martin Stadium, are noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Sunday.

The exhibit will have two focuses. One focus is Elliott’s work “Richard C. Elliott: Reflections and Mediation.” Thirteen pieces of his work will be on display.

Chris Bruce, director of the Museum of Art, describes the artist’s work as a series that utilize massive accumulations of multicolored bicycle reflectors to create dazzling environments of light and color.

The second focus of the exhibit is on recent donations to the museum’s permanent art collection. Included in the exhibit will be gifts from Seattle philanthropist Marian E. Smith’s glass collection, works by six major contemporary glass artists of the Pilchuck Glass School.

The Pilchuck Glass School was founded in 1971 by glass artist Dale Chihuly and patrons Anne Gould Hauberg and John H. Hauberg. Since its creation, Pilchuck has become the most comprehensive educational center in the world for artists who work with glass media. Works of Sonja Blomdahl, Dale Chihuly, Charlie Parriott, Flo Perkins, Stephen Rolfe Powell and Richard Royal are included in the exhibit.

“Smith’s generous gift of these exceptional pieces of late 20th century art glass and the funds required for their public display and preservation will greatly enhance the cultural life of students, faculty and staff on the WSU campus in Pullman,” said WSU President V. Lane Rawlins. “This gift creates a unique cultural resource that students can experience firsthand, supporting and enhancing the world-class educational experience offered at WSU.”

According to Smith, art allows people to gain insight into human values, historical events and how individuals wish to be understood by others. This power to educate is reflected in the key role art and art history play alongside literature as the basis of a liberal arts education, she said.

Another donor whose prints and photographs will be available for viewing during the exhibit is Sean Elwood. Elwood is a WSU alumnus who graduated from the fine arts program in 1973.

Since 1987, the WSU Museum of Art’s print collection has steadily grown due to the abundant donations of Elwood, providing the WSU community with an opportunity for active study. The museum regularly lends the Elwood Collection to other museums for display.

Prints by Blake Haygood and Dread Scott as well as photographs by Davis Freeman will be exhibited in the Elwood Collection. The photographs by Freeman are of artists Doris Chase and Gaylen Hansen whose works have recently been donated to the permanent collection and will be on display.

Art collectors Bruce and Lorretta Anawalt donated the untitled painting by Hansen, a world-renowned artist from the Palouse region. The Anawalts, Pullman residents for more than 30 years, have been long-time donors to the Museum of Art.

Chase began her career as an artist in the 1950s as a painter and sculpture. Over the years, she achieved international stature as a pioneer in video art. She is so well-respected in her hometown of Seattle that in 1999, the city declared June 23 Doris Chase Day. Chase recently gifted nine pieces to the WSU Museum of Art’s permanent collection. These sculptures range in media from glass to steel to wood.

“I just can’t stress enough how much these donors and the works they donate contribute to the world-class experience the museum provides at WSU,” said museum curator Keith Wells.

Funding for the museum exhibitions and programs for the fiscal year is provided by WSU, the Friends of the WSU Museum of Art, the WSU Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington State Arts Commission, Samuel H. and Patricia W. Smith Arts Endowment, VPLAC, the Museum of Art/WSU Directors Fund for Excellence and private donors. Visit the museum’s Web site at www.wsu.edu/artmuse. Call (509) 335-8633 for more information.

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