The Bates College Museum of Art opens two spring exhibitions, one including serigraphs by artist David Driskell and the other of work by graduating studio art majors, with a public reception at 5 p.m. Friday in the museum at the Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell St.
“The Doorway Portfolio” combines serigraphs by Driskell, who is a scholar of African American art as well as an artist, with prose by Bangor writer Michael Alpert. The exhibition runs through Aug. 27.
Bates’ annual Senior Thesis Exhibition, displaying work made by seniors during the course of the academic year, runs through May 28.
Driskell’s series consists of 12 boldly colored silkscreen prints that appear alongside 12 pages of prose written and letterpress-printed by Alpert.
The silkscreens, also known as serigraphs, represent “… the doorway as a passage between two worlds — interior and exterior, material and spiritual, real and imagined,” writes Phillips Collection curator Elsa Smithgall.
Raised in North Carolina, Driskell was trained as a painter and art historian and works in collage, mixed media and printmaking. The author of seven books on African American art, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Bill Clinton in 2000.
Alpert is a writer, publisher and visual artist who was born in Bangor and is the director of the University of Maine Press.
Senior Thesis Exhibition
The Bates seniors presenting thesis work include:
• Julian Bardin of Madison, Connecticut, whose photography makes use of long exposures and large prints.
• Catherine DiPietro of Owings Mills, Maryland, who incorporates sand and other materials into her paintings.
• Jessie Jacobson of Needham, Massachusetts, whose photography focuses on her hometown.
• Stephanie Jones of Ambler, Pennsylvania, whose figures are inspired by humankind’s efforts to understand the natural world.
• Elizabeth Laverghetta of Norton, Massachusetts, who blends 19th-century high-society portraiture with images of 21st-century celebrities.
• Sasha Lennon of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, who sculpts functional clay pots inspired by nature.
• Catie O’Toole of Alfred, Maine, who makes ceramic pieces intended for everyday use.
• Margaret Pope of McCall, Idaho, who combines paints and fabrics to create abstract multimedia pieces.
• William Reber of Johnson, Vermont, whose stop-motion film incorporates photography and painting.
• Natalie Silver of Bennington, Vermont, who creates pottery with surface designs inspired by nature.
• Keira Sultan of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, whose collages and prints blend original materials with their digital reproductions.
• Isabelle Unger of Charlotte, Vermont, whose large-scale black and white photography renders the human spine as an abstract form.
Bates museum exhibitions and events are open to the public at no cost. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday and Wednesday during the academic year.
For more information, call (207) 786-6158.
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