PADUCAH, KY - The Paducah School of Art/West Kentucky Community & Technical College is pleased to announce its presentation of Paducah School of Art Jewelry and Metals Invitational, featuring a selection of works by leading artists employing a contemporary approach to the art of metalsmithing. The works on display will include wearable works of art as well as small sculptural objects, with and without functional purpose. The exhibition will be presented in the Clemens Gallery at Clemens Fine Arts Center and an opening reception will be hosted on Friday, September 21, between 5 and 7 pm. Exhibiting artists include Lynnette Andreason (Meza, AZ), Alicia Boswell (Boise, ID), Shannon Duffy (Kentucky Dam Village State Park, KY), Danielle Embry, Jill Baker Gower (Sewell, NJ), Doug Harling (Hindman, KY), Nissa Kubly (Phoenix, AZ), Mel Miller (Brunswick, AUS), Mary Hallam Pearse (Athens, GA), Sarah Perkins (Springfield, MO), and Sarah Renshaw (Carbondale, IL). The exhibition is free and open to the public.

 

The exhibition was organized with two goals in mind – to draw attention to the creative work being produced by recognized artists working with metal in conjunction with non-traditional materials, and to set the stage for the opening of new studios and a metals program at PSA beginning this January. Almost without exception, the artists are graduates of master degree programs and have academic affiliations as instructors or professors. Likewise, each pushes the boundaries of what many would consider traditional jewelry and small-scale sculpture. The exhibition is designed to introduce regional audiences to the art form and to recruit prospective students as the metals and jewelry program launches in Spring Term within a newly renovated Madison Hall in Lower Town. The new facility will include dedicated studios for jewelry and metals classes, as well as greatly expanded studios for ceramics and work in clay.

 

Of special note among the exhibiting artists are Shannon Duffy, a former PSA adjunct instructor now teaching full time at Murray State, and Sarah Renshaw, a MFA graduate of the metals program at Southern Illinois University. Duffy served as curator for the exhibition and Renshaw will teach the jewelry and metals classes at Paducah School of Art as the newest adjunct member of the art school faculty.

 

Clemens Gallery is located in the Clemens Fine Arts Center on the campus of West Kentucky Community & Technical College at 4810 Alben Barkley Drive in Paducah. Gallery hours: Mondays, 10 am-3 pm; Tuesday, 1 pm- 3 pm; Wednesdays, 10 am-3 pm; Thursdays, 11 am-3pm; closed Fridays.

 

The Paducah School of Art/WKCTC offers an Associate of Fine Arts degree as well as studio art classes for students of all levels and disciplines.  Classes are offered on WKCTC’s campus and at 409 Broadway in downtown Paducah. Classes in ceramics and jewelry and metals will open in Madison Hall in Lower Town in January 2013.