Professors display art, citing muses from everyday life

10/31/08 - As Napoleon Bonaparte, once said, "a picture is worth a thousand words."Starting yesterday, seven University of Rhode Island professors began to display their photography, paintings, sculptings, drawings and other artistic works for public viewing at an event called "Hybrid."

Included in the show are professors Bob Dilworth, Ron Hutt, William Klenk, Jerry Mischak, Brian O'Malley, Gary Richman and Zoey Stites.

URI professors Stites, O'Malley and Mischak spent the afternoon finalizing the setup of their artwork in the Main Gallery in the Fine Arts Center. Overhead, lights cast bright highlights upon each artistic piece.

O'Malley, a professor of foundation studies at the university, said his drawings are an outlook of human emotions.

His piece, "A Series of Human Activity Near the End of 2008," is composed of 150 paper squares with black and white illustrations.

Throughout October, O'Malley produced, on average, four to five squares each day. "Within an hour I could do three to four; sometimes it would take a couple of hours," he said.

His work reflects the inspirations surrounding him - people, day-to-day things, photographs that catch his attention in newspapers, the human essence and at times "just my spontaneity," he said.

"Some [squares of my artwork] have a message, some do not - some are more about energy," he said.

O'Malley said he is hoping his artwork will enable viewers to identify his drawings within their lives.

"We all have a connection to anything that is human," he said. "Each piece is a story; you have your own association with something up here."

On a personal note, O'Malley said he feels a bond with a specific piece that reminds him of a friend who recently passed away.

"There's a connection to the spirituality," he remarked. "The one that I can connect to the most right now, when I look up there."

Inspired by various uncommon materials, Mischak, a professor of sculpture at URI, created two artistic sculptures. His work, placed in the center of the gallery, has many potential interpretations.

"The materials take on different associations [when brought together]," Mischak said.

His goal is to encourage viewers to come up with their own perceptions pertaining to his masterpieces.

"I'd rather you walk up to this, see the elements in here and come up with what I think it means," Mischak said.

He interprets his first piece, an abstract bust, as a portrayal of emotion and an evoker of the human essence.

The resulting sculptures Mischak produces in his art studio are encompassed of "living experiences and aspect of my life that get fused in with [each] piece," he said.

One artist expressed their creativity in a series of 35 square tiles, each a photographed word or small phrase. Colorful backgrounds with sayings including "ecosystems," "ethical standards," "diversity," "risks," "passion," "grim" and "synthetics" cover one of the room's walls.

Adjacent is a series of six rectangular framed pieces, each containing sharp-angled triangular prisms against pastel backgrounds and long, thin brushstrokes. Each triangle is composed of a plethora of colors and textures. The pieces themselves appear to have been put together bit by bit, laced together with extreme care and consideration for the geometric sizes of the figures, resulting in unique over- lacing patterns.

On the far wall, four collages, mounted on canvas, consist of vivid pictures. Each has a bird, a fish and a small trinket object - such as a ball, lemon or a drum. Of them, three have newspaper clippings in the center of the piece.

Next are four works of art, composed of brilliant orange figures on a jet-black background.

The four pieces encompass a Greek mythological subcontext, with touches of modern art incorporated throughout. Such works include a DNA double helix, helicopters, a hummer and a snorkler. The painter also included a minimum of one animal or representation of an animal in each painting.

Eight pieces of alternating cold and warm-hued paintings reside beside those. Sharp angles and smooth corners are dominant in all of the artist's works.

Nearby are two earthy pictures with hues of dark greens, browns, and the occasional sunset-orange, mounted on the back walls, closest to the main entrance of the exhibition room.

The exhibition will be open to the public, free of admission, from Oct. 30 through Nov. 20. Located in the Main Gallery of the URI Fine Arts Center, it will be available Monday through Thursday from 12 to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 12 to 4 p.m.