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DeKalb Artist's Bird Images Open Aurora University Art Gallery's 2009-2010 Season
9/8/2009
AURORA, Ill. — "...of a Feather," an exhibit of 30 bird drawings and prints by DeKalb artist Peter Olson, will be displayed at Aurora University through Oct. 30.
The exhibit is hosted by the Schingoethe Art Gallery in Dunham Hall at 1400 Marseillaise Place in Aurora.
Olson said, "Today, birds are the most common wildlife presence that we experience. To humans, birds metaphorically represent the vast and complex natural world on many levels: their likenesses decorate stamps and calendars, their decreasing numbers signal environmental degradation, their mystery suggests a forceful yet unexplainable spirit in nature.
"Throughout history, birds have played many roles in our lives: hunter's bounty, literary metaphor, scientific specimen, shaman's totem, predator, prey, scavenger, caged pet, artist's muse, destructive nuisance and didactic moral symbol.
"Although we as humans understand them in these many ways, something about birds remains elusive, distant and unknowable. They are always flying away from us.
"They are, as naturalist Roger Tory Peterson has asserted, the most vivid expression of life.
"As such, there is a pulse-quickening excitement inherent in images of living birds and an intensified gravity and sense of loss in images of death or extinction," Olson said.
Olson is assistant director at the Northern Illinois University Art Museum. Previously he was preparatory and curatorial assistant. He earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in printmaking from NIU.
Olson has participated in over 150 solo and group shows since his undergraduate days at Miami University of Ohio. Past solo exhibitions in Illinois include in Bloomington, Evanston, Quincy, Oak Park, St. Charles, Elgin and DeKalb.
Recent group exhibitions include the international Birds in Art in Wausau, Wis.; American print surveys in Kansas and Indiana, and a show at Chicago's Printworks Gallery.
Olson's drawings and woodcuts were featured in a three-person exhibition entitled Nature As Metaphor with several venues in the Midwest.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.
The exhibit is part of AU's 2009-2010 Celebrating Arts and Ideas series, 23 events including art exhibits, films, theatre, music and lectures from Sept. 8 to April 30, 2010.
Sponsors of the 2009-2010 Arts and Ideas series are Nicor, gold sponsor; City of Aurora, Harris Bank, Human Resources Management Systems, LLC, Old Second National Bank and Sodexo, silver sponsors; Alarm Detection Systems, Inc., BFC Integrated Print Management, Sikich LLP, and Whitt Brothers Garage, bronze sponsors; and Comcast and The Beacon News, media support. Thanks to Hollywood Casino and CNA Foundation for their additional support.
Schingoethe Art Gallery events for 2009-2010 continue with:
- Nov. 3-Jan. 2: "Aurora, Apollo, and Others: Narrative Drawings, Paintings and Prints by J.M. Mesplé," will be shown. An opening reception and lecture by the artist will be held from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Nov. 11.
- Jan. 12-Feb. 25: Aurora University Faculty and Staff Fine Art Show will feature, photography, paintings, and visual creations. An opening reception is from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 14 in the gallery.
- March 3-31: The annual Aurora University High School Show will open with a reception March 3 from 5 to 7 p.m.
- April 7: The second annual Aurora University Senior Art Exhibit runs through Sept. 7. Artists will be announced.
Call (630) 844-5402 for more information or visit aurora.edu/museum.
