Huntington College Faculty Art Exhibit Opens on Campus
FOR RELEASE: Wednesday, October 3, 2001
Huntington, Ind. "The Robert E. Wilson Gallery of the Merillat Centre for the Arts at Huntington College hosts the Biennial Huntington College Faculty Art Exhibit from October 3-26. Recent works by Huntington College faculty Rebecca Coffman, Elizabeth Frey-Davis and Ken Hopper will be featured in this exhibit. The gallery is open to the public weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and before all Merillat Centre performances. An artist's reception and gallery talk will be offered Saturday, October 6, from 1-3 p.m. Chamber music will be provided by Sara Wall, Huntington College adjunct faculty harpist. The public is cordially invited to attend.
Rebecca Coffman is currently the Associate Professor of Art at HC. She has her BFA from Hardin-Simmons University (Texas) and her MFA from Texas Tech University. Coffman is a member of Christians in the Visual Arts, the College Art Association of America and the Nationals Council on Education of the Ceramic Arts. Recently, her works have been displayed in Jenkintown, Pa., Shreveport, La., Fayetteville, Ark., Carbondale, Ill., Milwaukee, Wis., Lancaster, Ohio, and Fort Wayne, Ind.
Coffman came to HC in 1993. In 1999, she taught a summer ceramic class at Indiana and Purdue University at Fort Wayne. Prior to HC, she was a production potter and taught at Hardin-Simmons University, Houghton College, McMurry College and Texas Tech University.
For many years, I have been interested in how I might capture the liveliness and plasticity of the raw clay and reflect it in the fired vessel form, Coffman said. This interest has become a major focus of my present body of work. I throw multiple parts to each vessel on the pottery wheel and then alter and assemble them into a whole. In the 22 years that I have worked with clay, the vessel has always been a part of my expression as an artist. For me, it has become so much more than an object of pure function, it has become a metaphor.
Elizabeth Frey-Davis is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at Huntington College. She earned her BA from Houghton College and her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. Frey-Davis is a member of the College Art Association and the Christians in the Visual Arts. Her works have recently been displayed in New York, N.Y., Morristown, N.J., Richmond, Va., Denver, Colo., Houghton, N.Y., Madison, N.J., Brevard, N.C., and in the Republic of Macedonia.
Frey-Davis came to HC in 1999. Before moving to Indiana, Frey-Davis taught at the Academy of St. Elizabeth in Convent Station, N.J, for four years. She also taught at the Hunterdon Art Museum and Virginia Commonwealth University.
The idea of relationship " the interconnectedness between things seemingly exclusive to each other " is deeply embedded in my work, Frey-David said. Through color and mark making, I explore the dialectics of inside and outside, motion and stasis, darkness and light, the individual and the group. But this idea is strongest to me through my exploration of repeating subject matter multiple panels. The energy I sense in the spaces between things is as important as the objects themselves.
Ken Hopper is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at Huntington College. Hopper has been teaching at HC since 1990 and is currently working towards a PhD in Art Education. He earned his BS and MA from Ball State University. Hopper is a member of the Mid-America Print Council and the National Art Education Association. He has assisted in producing numerous tickets, brochures and posters for various music and theatre productions.
For further information about exhibits at the Robert E. Wilson Gallery, contact Huntington College professor Rebecca Coffman at (260) 359-4272.
