February 22, 2010
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History will unveil a new exhibit in the Commissioner’s Gallery and the West Virginia State Museum’s Lobby Gallery on Tuesday, Feb. 23, at the Culture Center, State Capitol Complex in Charleston. The show, entitled PreView: The Art Museum of West Virginia University–Selections from the Collection, will feature works from the school’s world class collection of artwork. An opening reception will be held in the Great Hall with music provided by a four-man West Virginia University (WVU) Steel Drum Ensemble beginning at 5:30 p.m. The exhibit and reception are free and the public is invited to attend.
The exhibit is held in honor of WVU’s new first lady, Beth Clements. She and her husband, Dr. James P. Clements, the president of WVU, will make remarks in the Norman L. Fagan West Virginia State Theater at 6:30 p.m., after some musical selections by the Steel Drum Ensemble. Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History then will lead visitors on a tour of the exhibit.
Beth Clements will discuss the importance of art in her family. Her mother is an artist who inspired a love of art in Beth and the Clements’ four children, emphasizing how it can be used to communicate. Beth believes that art is a universal cultural co-nnector that allows people to relate regardless of their lifestyle or occupation.
The exhibition is comprised of 42 pieces in a wide variety of media, with works by West Virginia artists Blanche Lazzell, Grace Martin Taylor as well as a lithograph by Jasper Johns, a black and white etching by Pablo Picasso, serigraphs by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein and photographs by Ansel Adams, among others.
The Art Museum of West Virginia University’s Collection currently contains some 2,500 works of art and was created through private gifts, alumni donations and purchases. Its scope is international and includes paintings, prints, works on paper, historic and contemporary ceramics, art from West Virginia and the surrounding region as well as works from Asia and Africa. The collection holds the largest public assemblage of American Modernist Blanche Lazzell.
After years of planning, the Art Museum at WVU is becoming a reality with an expected opening date in the spring of 2012. The new museum, which will be near the Creative Arts Center, will present both touring exhibitions and displays drawn from the university art collection in two galleries with approximately 5,300-square-feet of space. The building is being designed to be energy-efficient while controlling light, humidity, and temperature levels within the ranges required to protect the works of art. Plans include a print study area, spacious lobby, climate-controlled art storage space and exhibit work area.
For more information about the exhibition, contact Charles Morris, collections and exhibits manager for the Division, at (304) 558-0220.
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History, an agency of the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts, brings together the state’s past, present and future through programs and services in the areas of archives and history, the arts, historic preservation and museums. Its administrative offices are located at the Culture Center in the State Capitol Complex in Charleston, which also houses the state archives and state museum. The Culture Center is West Virginia’s official showcase for the arts. The agency also operates a network of museums and historic sites across the state. For more information about the Division’s programs, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
MEDIA NOTE: Photos are below
Blanche Lazzell
(American, b. 1878 - d. 1956)
Untitled (Study for Campus, WVU), 1934
Charcoal on Paper
Blanche Lazzell
(American, b. 1878 - d. 1956)
Campus, WVU, 1935
Color Woodblock Print
Cher Shaffer
(American, b. 1947)
Untitled (Prisoner of Life), ca. 2001
Painted Paper Cutout
Roy Lichtenstein
(American, b. 1923 - d. 1997)
Untitled (Still Life with Lemon and Glass), 1974
Serigraph, 35/100
Pablo Picasso
(Spanish, b. 1881 - d. 1973)
Number 2 of the 347 Series, 1968
Black and White Etching, 42/50
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