WSCC to host Eastern Illinois University artists

VICTORY TWP. – Manierre Dawson Gallery will host the work of two Illinois artists, Denise Rehm-Mott and David Griffin in an exhibition opening on November 5 and closing December 20.

Both artists are professors of art from Eastern Illinois University (EIU) in Charleston, Illinois, where Rehm-Mott teaches printmaking and Griffin teaches metalsmithing.

A third EIU professor, Jenny Chi, will exhibit her figurative paintings and drawings at the Ludington Area Center for the Arts (LACA) Gallery beginning November 27.

Denise Rehm-Mott received her Master of Fine Arts in printmaking from Indiana University and has been teaching in Illinois for over 25 years. She says that the subject matter of her work shown in the Dawson Gallery exhibit investigates “the process of decay and vivid beauty” as seen by the placing of bird boxes in a pristine old growth setting. She manipulates perspectives and shadows of the woods and bird boxes to suggest the spirit of the place and also to create psychological discord.

Most recently, Rehm-Mott recently won a best of show award at the Swope Art Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana, as well as an award in the 32nd Annual National Print Exhibition at Artlink in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

David Griffin received his Master of Fine Arts in metalsmithing and jewelry design from the University of Illinois and has been teaching at EIU since 1992. He has exhibited widely, won numerous awards and had work published in the 2001 Made in Illinois: An Artisan Gallery. Griffin expands traditional metalsmithing combining a variety of metals with turned and hollowed wood to create vessels alluding to possible narrative interpretations.

Ke-Hsin Jenny Chi is a native of Taiwan. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of Figurative Art of the New York Academy of Art and also studied at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy. Chi has won many awards including the White House Blue Ribbon Christmas Project.

She says she is inspired by the human figure, and paints in a style reminiscent of the Old Masters, often making references to works done in the Italian Renaissance. Also, like many of the works of the Italian Renaissance, her subject matter is taken from literary or mythological tales.

Her work will be on display in the LACA Gallery beginning November 27.

The Manierre Dawson Gallery, located in West Shore Community College’s Arts and Sciences Center, is open 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, Friday from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., and on evenings coinciding with scheduled Performing Arts Series events held in the Center Stage Theater.

The LACA Gallery is located at 107 South Harrison Street. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 5:30 p.m.