September 30 – October 13, 1965
Art Gallery, Eugenia Fuller Atwood Library
1965 BEAVER NEWS
“Opening Show Displays Art Faculty Talents” by Susan Wood
The 1965-66 season of art exhibitions of the Eugenia Fuller Atwood library gallery was inaugurated Thursday afternoon, September 30, at the reception for the faculty show which will run for two weeks. Works of Dr. Spruance, Miss Francksen, Mr. Hathaway, Mr. Moore, and our new department member Mr. Gilette are currently being displayed.
Lithographs and Other Prints
Dr. Spruance’s eight lithographs are concerned with two main themes. There is great strength and emotion in the series inspired by Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick.” Notable is the picture composed of two simple forms – man and whale. Even in its turbulence it has a unity of delicate balance held by a tenuous line.
His studio iconographies of warm browns and golds show a more geometric concern with form. “Studio Press” is a forceful statement utilizing the flattening of a picture plane, while “Studio Window” employs a play of light.
Also dealing in the print medium is Mr. Hathaway with his emphasis on that of technical experimentation. “Snowbound Patio” with its stark, laconic composition of forms emerging from a blanket of white displays the method of paper printing. “Owl” shows an ingenious use of hanger frames to build up an image. Also included are some investigations into glass as a pictorial surface.
Outdoor and Stage Designs
Miss Francksen offers another perspective in her designs for outdoor panels at Finnegan’s Playground. Some sample tiles exhibit gay colors and shapes that she incorporates into sophisticated designs which at the same time are formulated to appeal to a child’s fancy. Her plans for mosaics for the East Germantown Recreational Center develop in their technical complexity a beautiful tree image. Also included are two prints.
In two stage-set studies for Camelot[,] Mr. Moore contributes a unique note of style to the show in his stagecraft and drafting expression.
Mr. Gilette has within his own group of pictures two different types of visual statement. There are small, precisely controlled watercolors which depict landscapes of faceted sun rays and evoke with the same use of planes in a darker-toned picture the industrial forms of a city and its traffic. Large oil washes show again a contrast of mood – from a somber treed landscape to a gaily colored still life.
