Exhibit spotlights artists’ creations, communication during sabbatical

January 28, 2009 | Arts
By Angela Riddel



Two faculty members from the UT Department of Art are showcasing their work in an exhibit that focuses on pieces created while on sabbatical.

"Annie's Shrine" by Barbara WF Miner

“Conversations While on Leave: Recent Works by Debra A. Davis and Barbara WF Miner” is on display through Sunday, Feb. 8, in the Center for the Visual Arts Gallery on UT’s Toledo Museum of Art Campus.

Davis, professor and chair of art, said part of their conversations revolved around how their artwork has changed over the years.

“My work has shifted toward an examination of time and motion. I am interested in noticing the discarded and simple,” she said.

Davis explained the process behind her works featured in the exhibit: “I engaged in walks where I would record my walking by taking 20 paces and then photographing in front of myself and to the left and right. I am taking the many images that comprise the process and combining them into a single image for front, left and right, which contain the entire mile and a half. So time is condensed into one image that contains the entire process, rather than through a series of images presented in a linear fashion.”

"Travelling" by Debra A. Davis

"Inheritance" by Debra A. Davis

Miner, associate professor of art, spent three weeks as an artist in residence at the Ox-Bow artists colony in Saugatuck, Mich.

“I spent 12 to 14 hours a day in the wonderful studio they provided, just working and thinking and drawing,” she said. “It was a profoundly important time and it moved my work forward rapidly.”

Both women communicated with each other about their works while on leave.

“We talked about being artists. We talked about our own separate ideas and how to embody them,” Miner said. “What you will see in this exhibition is an ongoing dialogue, a conversation, between each of us and our own artwork.”

Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

For more information on the free, public exhibit, call the UT Art Department at 419.530.8300.

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