Carnegie Center for Art & History and the Barr Gallery

During the week of MAPC there was much to do, lots to see, and action was everywhere. You couldn’t even walk down a hallway without seeing a print nor could anyone deny viewing all the gallery exhibitions. Two in particular were the Carnegie Center for Art & History in New Albany IN, and the Barr Gallery in the Ogle Center Lobby at Indiana University Southeast, New Albany IN. The Carnegie held the Mid America Print Council Juried Exhibition while the Barr Gallery held the work of an individual artist also a part of MAPC. Understanding that they were two opposite forms of gallery showings, one attempted to keep one’s thoughts and questions about each showing on neutral ground. However, one could easily find a gallery more professional than the other.

During the Carnegie’s showing there were several beautiful works with various forms of breadth. It was pleasing to the eye to see art hanging from the ceiling as well as various forms of art on the wall and resting on pedestals. One could easily say that they were more attracted to the hanging paper art from the ceiling. The two paper art pieces were in the form of a bird or prehistoric creature in flight. The information about the artist and title of the work was not found, which made the experience less enjoyable. The exhibit was juried by a few professional superiors, although this exhibit was deemed to be less professional when compared to the Barr Gallery. The range and diversity of art is what made this experience most appealing, but it seemed that a few things could have been handled differently. For one, you couldn’t figure out the theme of the exhibit nor could you locate the information card labeling the title and the details about the showing. Either the stock had run out by the time I got there or there wasn’t any at all, it seemed that this could have been avoided by more planning. During the end of the exhibit an announcement was made that seemed somewhat rude. In short the male announcer told us that the exhibit was over and to go look at the other galleries. One did not hear a “thank you for attending,” or “enjoy the rest of your evening,” sentence in the announcement. While I’m sure it was not intended to come off as rude the tone was certainly not attractive. No one felt comfort in being “kicked out” of the gallery, which is why the ambiance of the second exhibit in the Barr Gallery was preferred.

Gallery at the Carnegie

The Barr Gallery’s exhibit of Deborah Maris Laders work also had a range of prints from etching, lithography, screen printing, and relief. Definitely not as diverse as the other exhibit, but also taking into consideration that this is a show for one artist not several. One did not find the work to be as appealing as the others because  the work was all too similar. It is good to have an overall idea behind the array of work that you are presenting because they all need to have a link between them, but this gallery overwhelmed me with repetition. One piece that stood out more than the others was an etching titled On Thin Ice. The piece was black and white and had a bird and several hands wrapped around almost in a suffocating manner. The idea was relative to the work and almost funny because the bird was not only being suffocated but also skating.  The theme and the information card along with Lader's personal business card was easily accessible. The presentation was also more formal with the artist presenting a small speech about the work. It would’ve been appreciated to have the organizers behind the Carnegie's exhibit also make a short speech as well, but sadly none was given.

Overall, I truly enjoyed attending the exhibits and found likes and dislikes about both. I decided to deem the Barr Gallery as the more professional exhibit because of its presentation, presence of an information card, and noticeable theme. I deemed the Carnegie as less professional because of the absence of the information card, no noticeable theme, unknown title of hanging art, and poor closing announcement.

Deborah Maris Lader, On Thin Ice

- Noelle Wilcox