May 14, 2010
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History will unveil a new exhibit, Lynn and Jennifer Boggess: Teaching Artists, in the Balcony Gallery of the Culture Center, State Capitol Complex in Charleston. An opening reception and Gallery Talk by the artists to celebrate the show will be held Monday, May 17, at the Culture Center beginning at 6 p.m. The exhibit and reception are free and the public is invited to attend.
The evening’s event will include remarks by Cabinet Secretary Kay Goodwin of the Department of Education and the Arts, Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith of the Division and Peter Lach, dean of the school of fine arts at Fairmont State University. Jennifer and Lynn Boggess then will present a Gallery Talk.
A native of Parkersburg, Lynn received his bachelor’s degree from Fairmont State College, now Fairmont State University (FSU), and his master of fine arts degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. He taught in public schools in Mineral and Berkeley counties, at West Virginia University for 10 years and at FSU for 16 years. Lynn was a professor of art at FSU and later served as coordinator of the art department there. He was an integral part of the first West Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts and served as a master teacher for five years. In 2007, Lynn retired from teaching and now is a full-time working artist.
Lynn has received numerous awards in his career including the D. Gene Jordon Award in the West Virginia Juried Exhibition in 1987; West Virginia University Outstanding Artist; Governor’s Award for Excellence in Painting; Higher Education Art Educator of the Year; and this year, received the Governor’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts.
In 2000, Lynn began experimenting with an alternative method of oil painting. He uses a technique that emphasizes a textural approach to plein air landscape painting, or painting in the field, as opposed to working in the studio from photographs. Often, his canvases are so large that he has to work from a modified scaffold he builds for each painting. He uses five different sizes of cement trowels as his brush. Lynn’s unique style is a combination of representational, impressionistic and abstraction which he calls high realism.
Jennifer is an associate professor of art at FSU where she teaches painting and drawing courses at all levels. She holds a master of fine arts in painting degree from West Virginia University. Her work has been features in Land Matters, Concrete Collaboration at Salisbury University in Maryland; Land Marks at Concord College in Athens; an invitational exhibition at Marshall University and in many solo exhibitions throughout the state of West Virginia. Before teaching at FSU, Jennifer was the director of the Innovation Gallery at the West Virginia High Technology Consortium in Fairmont and the Daywood Gallery at Alderson Broaddus College in Philippi, where she was an assistant professor of art. Jennifer is the author of Walls and Windows, Paintings by Blanche Lazzell, a chapter from the text, Blanche Lazzell: The Life and Work of an American Modernist. Of her recent work, she states, “The series contrasts the scale and rapidity of landscape change with the fragility and continuity of the intimate landscape.”
In addition, there are works by seven current and past students of the Boggesses from FSU included in the exhibition, including Lauren Adams of Fairmont; Stacey N. Elder, originally from Clarksburg; Derek Overfield of Fairmont; Andrew Smith; Michael Smith; Jason Spinks of Summersville; and Trevor R. Oxley, originally from Nicholas County.
Lynn and Jennifer Boggess: Teaching Artists will remain on display through July 11. For more information, contact Betty Gay, exhibits coordinator for the Division, at (304) 558-0220, ext. 128.
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: Photographs and captions
Lynn Boggess, 19 February 2010
Lynn Boggess, 18 March 2010
Lynn Boggess, 3 March 2010
Jennifer Boggess, Detail: Discursive Space 2010, Installation piece
Jennifer Boggess, Detail: Discursive Space 2010, Installation piece
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