Ouachita Baptist University’s Department of Visual Arts will present “Recent Work by Summer Bruch and Donnie Copeland,” an exhibit by OBU studio art faculty showing Oct. 15 through Nov. 3 in Ouachita’s Hammons Gallery, located in Mabee Fine Arts Center.
The exhibit will be the first that Donnie Copeland and Summer Bruch, both assistant professors of visual arts, have shown on campus during their time as faculty members at Ouachita.
“I work primarily with painted paper to produce non-objective, collaged canvases that emphasize pattern, texture, color and mark,” Copeland said. “The works are a synthesis and response to the visuality of subjects such as planted fields along the Mississippi and the art of distant peoples and cultures. But I think they could also be responses to the sheer fun of pop music.”
Bruch, on the other hand, works with ceramics. “There are more than 30 different products combined to create my surfaces,” she said. “Each has its own chemical formula and handling properties. When combined, they react differently. Sometimes it is fantastic and sometimes the results are a tragic failure.
“For me, the making of this work was a research project,” Bruch said. “Creating my cups was a way to focus on surface and research. I will take the knowledge I gained and apply it to my sculptural forms to make them richer.
Bruch also noted that while the two artists’ work were “developed independently … there are some commonalities between the two bodies of work. Both of us use pattern as a dominant element in our work. It’s interesting how two artists take similar approaches to their work yet the products can be so varied.”
A reception for the exhibit will be held in Hammons Gallery at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 23. In addition to the artwork on display, Dr. Justin Isenhour and Dr. Ryan Lewis, both assistant professors of music at Ouachita, will hold an improvisational music performance during the reception in response to what Copeland and Bruch have created.
The exhibit is free and open to the public. Regular gallery hours are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The exhibit is also available during evenings when other School of Fine Arts events are held in Mabee Fine Arts Center. For more information, contact the School of Fine Arts at www.obu.edu/visualarts or (870) 245-5129.
