National juried exhibition of drawings featured at Wright State’s Stein Galleries

“Untitled,” by Frank Spidale (Image credit: Frank Spidale)

Contemporary drawings by 68 artists from across the United States will be featured in a juried exhibition, “Drawing from Perception, Invention and Memory,” at the Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries at Wright State University from Jan. 16 to March 8.

Eve Mansdorf, a nationally recognized painter and faculty member at Indiana University, served as the exhibition’s juror and selected 91 pieces by 68 artists.

Selected works in the exhibition range highlight a diversity of approaches, materials, subject matter and scale.

A reception will take place on Thursday, Feb. 15, from 6 to 8 p.m., in the Stein Galleries, 160 Creative Arts Center.

Eleven alumni of Wright State’s Fine Arts Program are among the artists represented in the show: Clara Coleman, Andrew Dailey, Christopher Dolan, Fred Draper, Sam Kelly, Eva Lewis, Edmund Merricle II, Kathy Moore, Patricia Robinow, Emma Smith and Micah Zavacky.

The exhibition marks the ninth installment of the drawing competition at the Stein Galleries.

In 1996, the first juror was renowned painter Bernard Chaet, who taught at Yale University and wrote “The Art of Drawing,” which is widely considered to be the definitive text on drawing.

Jurors in subsequent exhibitions in the series have included Rackstraw Downes, Rosemarie Beck, Graham Nickson, Charles Cajorie, Ruth Miller, Stanley Lewis, Catherine Kehoe and Mansdorf.

“Drawing from Perception, Invention and Memory” is curated by Kim Vito, professor of art, and Penny Park, professor emeritus of art.

“Fee Lane Pool,” by Eve Mansdorf (Image credit: Eve Mansdorf)

Showing concurrently in the Cantelupe Gallery is “Fee Lane Pool,” an exhibition of Mansdorf’s work.

Mansdorf is known for large paintings of figures in interiors, still lifes and onsite paintings that draw from the landscape and neighborhood in Bloomington, Indiana, where she lives. Mansdorf paints perceptually and often her work is done close to home even when her “home” relocates to other countries and parts of the United States.

She has exhibited her work at the First Street Gallery in New York and various venues in the Midwest. Her work was previously displayed in the Stein Galleries in the 2016 exhibition “Painting Life.”

Mansdorf is an associate professor of painting at the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture and Design at Indiana University Bloomington, where she has taught since 1996.

She received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Cornell University and an M.F.A. in painting from Brooklyn College.

The Stein Galleries are open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Wednesdays and Fridays from noon to 4 p.m.; and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

For more information, contact the Stein Galleries at 937-775-2973 or artgalleries@wright.edu or visit wright.edu/artgalleries.