On Sunday, the Holzer Clinic Community Gallery walls were filled with a mosaic of snapshots of different walks of life with their new exhibition “People and Places: Near and Far,” in partnership with the Dairy Barn Arts Center.
The exhibition will feature the work of Gary Kirksey, Karen Nulf and Gary Pettigrew. All three artists are past or present OU professors who also serve as board members of the Dairy Barn.
After selecting which works to hang in the gallery, the coordinators then decided the theme.
For Pettigrew, a retired OU art professor, selecting which pieces to display was first a matter of what would fit, and only then did he decide which specific pieces he would place together.
“After (deciding to use mainly smalls and one large piece), it was a matter of choosing pieces that had some kind of cohesion as a group, subject matter, color scheme, etc.,” Pettigrew said.
The medium of the artwork extends from photography to paint and features portraits and landscapes both from Athens and other places in the country.
“I paint from actual locations in Athens, not on site like Monet, and select places that strike me as interesting or intriguing or odd, and that simply make me want to make some sort of painting out of them,” Pettigrew said. “The starting point is always, ‘Wow! Cool! Look at that. Where’s my camera?’”
Where Pettigrew drew his inspiration from Appalachian landscapes, Gary Kirksey, an associate professor of visual communications, focuses his photography on documenting human stories.
“One of the photos is of a man in Havana who owns a shoe-shining store,” Kirksey said. “It’s normally not what we see here in the United States and it says something about the culture.”
The Holzer Gallery and the Dairy Barn worked together in the spring on an exhibition featuring prints from the Athens Photographic Project and will feature the work of local artist Kenner Bush later this fall.
“The show is really inspired and promotes local artists that are up and coming,” said Jane Forrest Redfern, executive director at the Dairy Barn. “Holzer has a sense of place and utilizes local artists. It’s a natural partnership.”
The Holzer Gallery also provides recognition for artists who may not otherwise have the tools or opportunity to showcase their artwork.
“Athens has a rich artistic aspect but has very few opportunities for artists to display their work,” Kirksey said. “There are spaces in restaurants and bars, but not many gallery settings.”
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